Minecraft: The Full Adventure
by Amanda the Huntress
Summary: Follow the life of Huntress: A newly awakened Steve in the vast and beautiful universe of Minecraft. This is her story, from her first few terrifying nights, to the horrors of Herobrine in the Overworld. There are many dangers on this journey. At every turn, Huntress and her companions find themselves fighting for their very lives. Now, come and join the adventure.
1. In the Beginning

_Welcome, one and all, to the very first story from Amanda the Huntress. A warning, if I may, this first chapter is just a pilot that I originally published just to make sure I was able to write within the world of Minecraft. If you get bored, just skip this chapter. It has very little significance to the story as a whole. Herobrine comes next chapter, anyway, and that's when the story actually begins. Happy reading._

MINECRAFT: THE FULL ADVENTURE

PART ONE (PROLOGUE): IN THE BEGINNING

My story began when I awoke in a vast land of hills and trees, sky and water. Everyone's tale starts out this way. When I opened my eyes, I had no name, and no memory of where I was or how I got there. All I had was this...curiosity. I wanted to explore. See what things did. Survive- no, live. I wanted to live to the fullest.

It was full morning when I first opened my eyes. There was a very vague breeze sifting through the trees overhead, making the leaves and grass whisper and brushing lightly on my skin. I blinked a few times, confused and disoriented. I tried to gather my thoughts. Who was I? Where was I? What was this. I sat up and looked around. I was in a forest of trees, each with pale bark dappled with black. They were birch trees, that I knew. But how did I know that?

I shook my head to clear it, and tried to stand. At first I was too dizzy. Then I tried again with a little more success. I was standing on a slope, with trees as far as I could see to my left and right. Downhill, I could hear water. Uphill, the slope grew steeper and the trees denser. I started off downhill.

I came to the banks of a slowly-flowing river. Beyond the lazy waters, I could see a plain that stretched on for miles, inhabited by only a few wild sheep and birds. I took a deep breath of the clean, river-scented air. The world around me was so quiet, so peaceful.

Suddenly, on an impulse, I walked up to a tree and struck it with my fist. Cracks appeared on the trunk. I hit it again, and again, until a section of it broke free. To my surprise, the rest of the tree remained where it was, unmoved, while the punched-out section bounced away and shrank into a cube small enough to hold in my hand. Intrigued, I walked up and picked up the miniature piece of birch wood.

As soon as I had picked it up, I knew exactly what to do with it. Focusing for a second, I called up my inventory and placed the wood inside. I'm still not sure to this day how the inventory is supposed to function. I don't know how we are able to carry loads of things without using hands or backpacks, but that's just how it is in the world I live in.

I took the rest of the tree in a similar fashion and decided to set off downriver. There was a flat strip of sand running along the shore of the water, which made walking easier. I discovered many things that first day, such as how I could only handle four objects at a time with one hand. But, I also discovered that if I split one of my pieces of wood into four planks, I could rearrange the planks into a workbench. The workbench could hold up to nine objects, which was just what I needed.

On another impulse, I started experimenting with the rest of my wood. I set down the workbench and discovered that if I split two planks, I would get two pairs of sticks. By mid afternoon, I had managed to make a tool: A pickaxe. I put away my workbench, thinking to simply keep moving, when I spotted a small cave in a hillside. There was mostly only normal rock and slag and dirt, but I spotted a patch of rock with darkly stained mottling, which I knew had to be something more. I took a gamble and took a swing at it with my new tool, and sure enough, it was a large vein of flammable stone. Coal.

Over the rest of the afternoon, I gathered more wood and tried out digging new things with my hands and then with my pickaxe. Sand and dirt and wood were easy, but rock and any other ores required the pick. I was about to try making another tool when I realized something: It had just gotten significantly darker.

I looked out over the horizon and sure enough, the stars were coming out. I heard an ominous growling behind me and was gripped by an overwhelming sense of dread. I turned around.

There was a man in tattered clothes with green skin and rotting flesh behind me, growling and snarling and coming my way. My eyes went wide, and I remember rather clearly my first battle in the Minecraft universe: I was scared, and very, very clumsy. The zombie took a step towards me, and I took a step or three backwards... right into the water. I lost my footing and splashed down hard into the river. As I came up coughing, the zombie attacked.

Terrified for my life, I swung hard at the creature with my pickaxe again and again, ripping up its body until finally, the undead corpse vanished in a cloud of smoke, replaced by a few strips of rotten flesh that quickly washed away in the current. Panting, sweating, and shivering from the cold water and night air, I looked around. To my dismay, there were dozens of other creatures already wandering around in my surroundings. Many zombies, skeletons, giant spiders, and bright green quadruped things that resembled mobile cacti walking around. Luckily, I hadn't been noticed yet. I took a deep breath, and dove under the surface, swimming away.

I swam and surfaced for a long while, and it was nearly moonhigh when I found what I was looking for: A place to shelter for the night. There were high cliffs looming over the river at this point, and there was a small indentation in the rocks just big enough for myself, my workbench, and a little elbow room. I crawled out of the water, exhausted, and rested on the rocks until my limbs regained sensation. I would be sore, but I could still build.

I put up planks all around the indentation, closing it off, and put up a door that I made on the spot. Then I moved my workbench inside and put together some torches, lighting one and placing it over the door. Then I sat down on the floor with my back to the wall, and before I knew it, I had dozed off. I woke up early the next morning very sore indeed.

The next few days were a combination of fleeing for my life and making many ingenious discoveries. I learned how to make weapons, and better shelters, a better bed for myself, and how to kill any monsters that came near me before they could do me harm. I learned how to kill and cook cows and use their leather, and craft a fishing line to catch food from the ever-present river. Then my wandering came to an end.

It was late in the afternoon one day and I was looking for a good shelter, when I stumbled upon what looked like a scattering of wooden stairs over the top of the next hill. Curious, as always, I went over the hilltop and, to my amazement, discovered civilization. There were houses- dozens of them!- extending over the plains, with gardens between them growing wheat and carrots. There was a gravel road running through the entire town, and a stone church tower in the center of it all. And people! I had been running around alone and, as I realized right then, very lonely. But now before me there were other people! Living, breathing, walking, and talking, and wearing clothing of every color. I sat down on the grass and breathed a deep sigh of relief.

My life changed again over the next week. As I discovered, there were two breeds of people in the world, which I found out was called the Overworld: the Villagers, who controlled commerce and held together these little settlements, and the Steves, like myself, who were the miners, builders, and fighters. I am a Steve with a white shirt, as in, I am female, but usually Steves are blue-shirted males. And Steves are very, very rare, usually being lone nomads of vast streatches of the Overworld.

But it just so happened that a great many of us Steves were fated to meet. Only two days after my arrival in the village, another Steve came to the village. We met, we talked, and for some reason, our conversation settled on the topic of names.

"What is your name?" the other Steve (quite childishly) asked me. Confused, I answered,

"I... You know what, I don't know. You know, the Villagers said that we Steves should have names, but I guess I don't have one." The other Steve paused and pondered for a moment.

"My name is Dragon." he said. I raised my eyebrows.

"So you have a name, but not me?" I felt that this was a rather unnecessary conversation indeed.

"Yes," he answered, "I do. I just made one up for me, only a moment ago. You should think of one for yourself, so the other villagers have something to call us." Suddenly, I felt very silly for not thinking of that. I quickly thought of a name for myself.

"My name is Huntress." I said. Dragon grinned and held out his hand.

"Pleased to meet you, Huntress. Know of any good places to eat in town?" We shook hands, and when we discovered that the only public buildings in town were the church and library, we decided to start building our own. Don't get any ideas- we didn't go all lovey-dovey on our first day knowing each other. To this day, we see each other as good friends, and veterans of the Overworld. Nether of us have time for romance. No one does in our world. We're too busy building and mining.

Another Steve arrived three days later, while Dragon and I were busy building our own things. This Steve got the same conversation with Dragon that I had on names, and the new Steve named himself Sky. There were several others: Dawn, Lee, Wolf, and finally, Rose. Six of us, together to build anything we wanted.

Under our combined efforts, we built many things. I built my city of FireForge, with several outlying towns and settlements, including Ember, where we often met to eat and play games. Dragon, with my help, built Diamond City, the most magnificent city in the Overworld. It took us weeks to get together all the rare minerals, but in the end, all six of us stayed the night in the wondrous central castle. All our finest works were complete.

This is the beginning of our tale.


	2. The Enemy

_A note from the author: The first chapter was a pilot for this story. It introduced you to the world and the Steves. Now brace yourselves. The real adventure starts now. Another warning: There is a large measure of fantasy violence. Although still suitable for most audiences, this story is not for small children or the easily frightened. _

PART TWO: THE ENEMY

In the beginning of our story, life was good, and we thought it could only get better. We were veterans of Minecraft, able to face any challenge before us. No mine was too deep. No tower too tall. Our cities were built, and I couldn't be more proud of FireForge. We had learned to farm and craft, and even use magic to improve our tools and weapons. Always hungry for action, I and the six of my closest Steve friends would constantly search for a greater adventure. Days ago, we thought we had found just that.

I was in my forge one day, working back and forth between the anvil and enchanting table to create a powerful sword. A knock on the open door frame stilled my hammer, and a white-robed villager stepped in to deliver a summoning from the village priest to go to the church immediately. He warned me that bad news awaited.

I thanked the man, and shucked off my leather forge tunic to clean off. A few minutes later, I climbed up the ladder of the village church tower into the upper room wearing my Steve shirt and pants, my bow slung across my back. Expecting something like one of my friends losing a chest of valuables and needing help, I wasn't overly worried. Bad things happened, and they rarely got us down. But this time was different.

"Have a seat, Huntress," the priest said as I came through the trapdoor. He stood behind a rough plank table littered with papers and maps, with a chest off to the side. I sat down obediently on the bench opposite to him.

Scanning the objects on the table, I recognized several of them as the manuscripts that Dragon and Sky had found a month ago in an abandoned mineshaft. When they presented them to the rest of us, we all got excited. The pages had all sorts of recipes and instructions, including the blueprint for a...

"Recognize these?" The priest's voice snapped me out of my musing. I nodded. He continued. "These were found at the edge of Diamond City. The creation of Dragon, am I correct?" I nodded again, not liking the tone in which he said _Diamond City._

"The city is now in ruins," the priest bluntly stated. My jaw dropped, and my breath caught in my chest. Shocked, I struggled with my tongue until I could choke out a single word:

"How?!" _How is this possible? No horde of monsters could storm the city. It's unbreachable! I helped build it myself! _So many questions burned in my mouth, unable to escape. I had lost the voice to speak. The priest shook his head, and his tone softened.

"We do not know. But the area is very dangerous. There are pitfalls everywhere, and falling debris as well. Worse, there are fires that we are unable to put out. The entire area still burns to some degree as we speak."

"And Dragon?" I asked.

"We have no way to know," the priest answered. "He may still be in the Overworld, but..." he trailed off.

"What do you mean, 'still in the Overworld'?!" I demanded. The priest looked on me with a saddened expression. He held up a diagram from the table.

"We both know what this is," he prompted. I nodded vaguely.

"A portal to the Nether dimension," I said, starting to mentally connect the pieces.

"Let me tell you all that we know," said the priest. "Dragon is missing, and his city is destroyed. We found these," he said, gesturing to the tabletop, "among his other possessions near an empty obsidian frame. We assume this is an inactive portal. Now, in the parts of the city we were able to explore, we found many different things transformed into materials not found naturally in the overworld, such as a dense brown sand that we know as 'soul sand', and an eternally-burning stone called 'netherrack'. From the evidence here, I have put together what may have happened.

"Dragon created and activated the portal, but my guess is that he never stepped through. Instead, extradimensional Nether energies and creatures were released into the Overworld. However, this catastrophe could not be instigated by Nether monsters alone. Such power could only be found in one specific individual."

The priest opened the chest and drew out a thick volume wrapped in satin ribbon with a quill stuck in it. He pulled the quill out and unclasped the ribbon, flipping back the cover and turning the pages until he found what he wanted. He presented to me a page with an illustration of what looked like a male Steve, seated on a throne with a black sword resting against one armrest. The pictured individual had sharp features, with high cheekbones and a straight nose, a full lower lip over a strong jaw, and dark hair that ended at his chin. He wore the basic Steve uniform, blue pants topped with a solid-colored shirt, in his case black. He looked like one of us.

But his eyes were totally colorless.

"This," said the priest, "is Herobrine." I studied the picture. The priest continued, "He is the most powerful being of evil in the entire universe."

"How so?" I asked, unperturbed.

"He is the younger brother of the creator Notch."

My head snapped up from the book, and I looked straight into the priest's eyes, surprised. The priest continued.

"Herobrine, in fact, was not always evil. He aided Notch in the creation of the overworld and other dimensions. To put it this way, Notch made the land and seas, but Herobrine created the things living on it, including us. The legends say that Herobrine eventually betrayed Notch, but for what reasons, we do not know. It is debated that he disapproved of Notch's gift of free will, which would cause imperfections among his creation. In the end, Herobrine fought his brother violently, and when he lost, was banished to another dimension.

"And that dimension is the Nether?" I asked. The priest nodded.

"But how do we know he's actually here?" My voice went up in pitch. I was suddenly afraid.

"This."

The priest handed me a page with a single line of writing.

_Beware, people of Notch. The overworld is mine._

"This was found," said the priest, "on a signpost in the middle of the road when I was taking a party to Diamond City's village for trade. After this disaster, it can only mean one thing." The page fell from my hand and fluttered to the ground as my head sank into my hands.

"Herobrine is back," I said, defeated.

After a long pause, I said in a voice barely audible,

"What have we done?"

* * *

Weeks passed. After the destruction of Diamond City, a haze seemed to cloud over my mind. Fearful that our homes and lives could be next, my friends and I met one last time to say farewell. Then, one by one, I lost contact with them as they each went to their own hidden bases and bunkers. They intended to wait out whatever threat came.

Hiding, to me, didn't seem to be an option. I was an adventurer, and the second most senior Steve of the Overworld, next to Dragon. But I didn't know what to do. I would put up a few defenses, only to shake my head and take them down again. I would plan a journey to one place or another, but the plans would be trashed long before they came to fruition. Then one day, a sign appeared in each of the villages enclosed in the Steve cities.

_Surrender or perish._

The FireForge village librarian found the sign first, and immediately reported it to me. I then knew what I needed to do. That afternoon, I went to the village priest for advice.

The priest was on the roof of the church tower when I found him, pacing back and forth and scanning the horizon. When I came up onto the roof to met him, he immediately embraced me.

"Thank goodness you're safe!" the priest exclaimed, hands shaking with relief. "We thought you had been taken lile Dragon." I gently freed myself from his arms and clasped his shoulder. Taking a deep breath, I revealed to him what I intended to do.

"I need your help," I began. The priest lifted his green-eyed gaze to defeat mine. I swallowed. He had been badly shaken by the appearance of Herobrine, so I needed to word this carefully.

"I need information," I tried again, "on Herobrine. I need to know his ways and his history. There are things only a man of the clergy can tell me, and I need to know them to fix this... problem." The priest nodded slowly, the dark gleam of despair fading from his eyes, replaced by a look of purpose.

"What do you need to know?" He asked in his strong baritone.

"Anything you can tell me," I answered. The priest nodded again, then looked off at the horizon.

"Meet me in the library."

That evening, after heading home and packing, I rode back into the village on Stardust, my white horse, with a pack donkey in tow on a lead. I was in full gear, and I had in my packs all the things I would need for a long trip. I wasn't planning on staying in FireForge.

The other villagers cleared the way as I cantered in. They knew I meant business, and respected my passage. Putting Stardust and the pack animal in the stable I'd built for the village, I walked into the library.

My jingling chain mail shirt alerted the priest of my arrival. He looked up, took one look at my chain shirt, travel cloak, gauntlets, and iron leg armor, and asked,

"Leaving so soon?"

"When I have what I need," I answered, "yes." His expression softened from his usual stern countenance, melting into a sad smile.

"Tell me you won't go hunting him," he said. I shook my head. He seemed slightly relieved by this.

"Now," he continued, "Down to business."

I sat down at the small table in the corner whole the priest thumped down a heavy stack of books in front of me. He pulled the top volume off the stack and started flipping pages until he presented to , e the desired page. Our conversation began.

* * *

Rain slapped my face and chest and wind buffeted by cloak as I rode hard for Ember. It was late at night, soon after my meeting with the priest, and I had to reach my destination quickly. In one hand, my bow rested nocked with an arrow and ready. In my left I grasped the saddle horn, where the reigns were loosely tied. I guided Stardust with my legs.

Stardust whinnied nervously at me, a shudder running through his white flanks. I reigned him into a trot warily, and scanned the darkness.

There. Four pairs of glowing red eyes stared back at me from the blackness. I stood up in my stirrups, drawing back the bowstring and firing off a shot, and was rewarded by a screech of pain. Sinking back into the saddle, I kicked Stardust into a gallop once more.

The priest's last instructions echoed in my mind as I guided Stardust along the narrow path.

"We don't have much information here," the priest had said after flipping back the cover of another book and sliding out a folded page from a pocket, handing it to me.

"What's this?" I had asked.

"This," he said, "is a map showing the road to a very ancient site. You are aware that the modern Temple of Notch was built on the ruins of the ancient complex?" I nodded, eyes on the unfolded map in my hand.

"Well," the priest continued, "in that complex, if you can find it, is the lost library of Minecraft. It contains records going back before the Overworld's very creation. If there is any information regarding Herobrine left, it is there."

A hiss from behind snapped me back to reality. On instinct, I twisted around and fired at the plant-like Creeper, not daring to slow down. Looking up at the sky, I watched as lightning split the darkness for a brief moment. Cursing the weather, I put my head down and rode on through the night.

I swayed wearily on the saddle as Stardust walked doggedly towards the gates. We faced a high wall of stone bricks with a gate of solid iron. Ember.

Carefully, I drew an arrow from my quiver and nocked it on the bowstring, drawing back and taking aim at a small wooden button high above the gates. Then I fired, and to my relief, it flew true, activating the gate mechanism. The gates hummed to life, sinking inwards and parting to the sides. I nudged Stardust and we rode inside.

The small castle I had named 'Ember' was my favorite retreat home, and whenever I needed to do research, it was done here. For now, this would be my base, for according to the Priest's map, the entrance to the ancient temple complex was very close. The modern Temple was also a short ride away, or a morning-long hike if on foot. But the village by the temple did sell refreshments, and that made the trip worthwhile.

I spent the rest of the day in an exhausted daze, taking the horse to the stable and the donkey out to pasture, removing their tack and saddlebags. Putting my supplies away in the storage room, I climbed the stairs leading up the tower room, only bothering to shrug off my armor and sopping boots and cloak before collapsing into bed while the sun was still high.

* * *

I stood up from the table in the village library, map rolled up and stuck in my belt, and my mind buzzing with more questions than answers. I gazed out the window for a moment, and pretending for just that moment that none of this had happened. The village life still went on as normal, with all its comings and goings. It was easy to pretend that Herobrine's release had never happened in this peaceful place.

Herobrine would not bespoil that peace, and I would see to that. I caught the priest's green eyes in my determined blue gaze.

"He will come here," I said. "I already know that in my heart." The priest shifted uncomfortably.

"What are you saying?" he asked, clasping his hands under the wide sleeves of his light purple robe.

"I mean that Herobrine will hunt the Steves," I answered. "If what you say is true, then he will track down and destroy each one of us, and destroy everything we have built. And he will destroy those that side with us. So, there is something I need you to promise me." The priest's face tightened.

"Huntress, don't-" he began, but I cut him off.

"Anything can happen," I said. "Anything at all. Herobrine will come here. Do not protect me if he does, and do not protect the things I've built. Do what he asks, even if you must tell him where I've gone and what you've told me." The priest paled.

"But he could kill you!" he exclaimed, "And trap you in a place where there is no return! I-" Again, I didn't let him finish.

"Do it!" I demanded, then said in a gentler tone, "You saw the signpost. He'll kill you if you don't. Who knows- Notch may return and take care of all this himself. Trust me." I squeezed his shoulder, offering a half-hearted smile. Then I turned to leave.

"Huntress," the priest called, and I turned back to him.

"Good luck. You may need it." I nodded my farewell.

"You too."

* * *

I awoke to the eastern morning sun glaring in my eyes. Groaning, I rolled upright in bed, rubbing my eyes and stretching my arms and shoulders. Slowly, I stood up, convincing my sorry, saddle-sore bum that it was time to work again. I tried to limber up, working my stiff limbs back and forth, and then bending down to touch my toes. It would be a long day.

My gear was still on the floor where I'd left it. I picked it up, shaking out the chain shirt and putting it on, and strapping on over it my sword and sword belt. My leg armor was dry enough to don as well, as were my gauntlets. My cloak and boots stayed on the floor, where I looked at them with distaste. I would wear something else today.

Barefoot, I made my way down the stairs and into the main room, where I picked up the spare boots and cloak. My belly noisily reminded me that I hadn't eaten since early yesterday morning, so I snagged some apples as well. Then I took up my walking stick and went out of the main building. First things first, I needed a few better weapons. I crossed the grounds to the Vault.

'The Vault' was the name of an underground, solid obsidian structure with a very complex locking system. I put in a numerical code on a set of nine buttons, activating a piston that pulled out to reveal a switch. Flipping the switch, a section of the vault shell slid aside, allowing me entry. I made my way in.

Several suits of armor and racks of weaponry hung inside. Chests of raw materials lined the base of the walls, and a shelf of enchanted books dominated the rear. This was my single largest mass concentration of valuables and vital supplies. I would probably need them soon.

For now, though, all I needed was a better sword. I selected a heavily enchanted diamond blade named _Firefall_, and put my usual sword in its place. On a whim, I also put away my bow and quiver, replacing them with _Skyfall _and a quiver of arrows that never ran out. Then I was on my way, headed out of the vault and re-locking it behind me.

Stardust was still in the stables- I gave him an apple and led him out to pasture. I would be doing my traveling on foot, and I felt that I owed the horse the time to romp and play after all the work he had been doing. Taking a bite out of another apple for myself, I set off down the trail to the nearby village, where my quest would begin.

* * *

With a torch in one hand and a strip of beef wrapped in bread in the other, I meandered through the tunnels that ran below the Temple of Notch. I had already found several rooms of books and other storerooms, and several bedchambers, but I still hadn't found what I was seeking.

I had paused at every bookshelf and stack and chest I found to glean it of anything useful, and was rewarded by a handful of old manuscripts and documents that had a few tidbits. One in particular was a fragment of a book called _Chronicle I_. Unfortunately, it was only half the cover and the first chapter and a half, but it had a much more detailed account of the first stages of Creation than I had ever seen. Now I kept my eyes peeled for another fragment of the _Chronicle. _Or for any sign that I had found the library. Or even the ancient temples themselves.

I was munching on the last bite of my sandwich when I heard a sound that made me freeze. An otherworldly voice was speaking in a chuckling, somewhat melodic language completely foreign to the Overworld. Endermen.

I dropped my torch in a rusted wall bracket and crept towards the source of the sound. Sure enough, just a few corners away, there was a room dominated by a trio of tall, darkly mottle-skinned figures with bright violet eyes. Behind them was a bright light source resting at the base of a staircase… My eyes wandered downwards into the luminescent, star-filled portal to the End. I realized that I had just stumbled upon a Stronghold, an ancient creation of Herobrine.

I also realized that the Endermen had just fallen silent and were staring at me.

The Chronicle had suggested that the Endermen were in fact a peaceful race, at least at the dawn of time, however… It was taboo to look an Enderman in the eye. Any who did so died horribly. Gaze locked on my toes, I backed away and removed myself from the Stronghold entry, retrieving my torch and shying away.

A few paces down another corridor and it hit me. Strongholds were of Herobrine- Wouldn't it make sense that one would be near Herobrine's old temple? Checking the map just to make sure, I made out the markings for the Stronghold, and sure enough, there was a marking for a large, open chamber, although the label was worn off. I set off for it.

Only minutes later, I stepped into a place where my footsteps echoed to suggest a large room. A row of redstone lamps extended off into the darkness. Shrugging, I flipped the switch, and then nearly fell backwards from what I saw.

The lamps flickered on to reveal a room much larger than I had anticipated. The floor was made up of checks of black obsidian and a white stone I recognized as quartz, which the Temple Priests told me was only found in the Nether. The walls were solid white iron blocks, and they were notched with niches and alcoves here and there, in between tall pillars of solid gold. Within the alcoves, old relics and ancient tomes rested on displays. In the center of the room, a golden shrine rested atop a raised dais of blue lapis stone. The ancient Temple of Herobrine.

I cautiously approached the shrine, ascending the dais but not entering. It was very simple, with only a small depiction of Herobrine in the back above an empty trough with a blackened bottom- probably where an eternal flame once burned.

I came down the steps of the dais carefully and breathlessly, unconsciously trying not to make a sound. I had the strange sensation of being watched, and I trusted that my instincts were right. But driven by the need for information and my ever-present curiosity, I did not abandon the temple just yet. Instead, I took a look at the books around the room.

To my amazement and utter delight, there, in the center alcove on the left-hand wall, were three thick volumes with their titles clearly etched on their leather covers in gold: _Chronicle I, Chronicle II, _and _Chronicle III. _Eyes wide and hands quivering with excitement, I carefully slid a finger under the cover of _Chronicle I_ and bent it back. The cover and end pages turned smoothly, as if brand new. Then I realized something: Even though the temple showed clear signs of abandonment, it by no means showed any sign of the passage of time. To come to think of it, there wasn't even a spec of dust on any surface at all.

A low, melodic chuckling drew my focus off the books. I realized then and there that I had been followed, and there was most likely a trio of Endermen standing right behind me. Knowing I would have to escape now, I stashed the _Chronicles_ away in my inventory and rested a hand on the hilt of _Firefall, _mentally preparing to run for it.

Genuine laughter echoed from behind the Endermen, shooting needles across my nerves. I sucked in my breath and loosened my sword from its sheath. My heart pounded and my mind raced. No, he couldn't have found me, not now, not so soon…

"What delightful irony," said a strong tenor voice from somewhere back in the room, "For me to have found a Notch-loyal Steve lurking in a church devoted to me."

I gripped the hilt of _Firefall _and wrestled with my adrenaline-shocked voice until I could speak with dignity.

"What of it?" I said tightly to a pillar, not daring to turn around because of the Endermen. "All the lost lore of Herobrine is gathered here. Perhaps I simply wanted to brush up on my ancient history." I could have sworn that I could _hear _Herobrine smirking at me.

"Indeed," he replied. "But all for naught, I'm afraid. You have the books you so desire, but will you live long enough to read them?" I scowled at the pillar. _Think, _I ordered myself. _You've been trapped before. What are your options? Well, let's see… Table in front of me, pillar next to me, hanging lamp above…_

"And," Herobrine added, "Will you be able to use your knowledge to save your friend? I believe his name is...what was it?...Dragon. We've become very well acquainted- in the Nether, of course." I choked on my own breath. Cursing Herobrine to the depths of the Void, I clenched my teeth to bite back an angry retort. Finally, I could speak calmly again.

"Is this," I said coldly, "What you would call a friendly first encounter?" Herobrine did not answer. Instead, he addressed the Endermen.

"Old friends, I would like this wretch to witness the destruction of her most beloved home. Kill her, and let her respawn in the midst of a burning castle." Herobrine's voice was deadly calm and cold as he said this- A shiver ran down my spine.

"Castles can be rebuilt!" I snapped, holding up a pail of water as a clear message to the Endermen, _I won't hurt you if you don't hurt me. _My response gave Herobrine pause.

"That is true," he resigned, "But although you can respawn however many times you like, the lives of your villager friends are not so easily replaced." The pail was instantly replaced with _Firefall _in my hand.

"NO!" I cried, leaping up onto the tabletop and swinging by the hanging lamp over the heads of the Endermen to fly at Herobrine, _Firefall _held two-handed and coming down with the full force of my body. Herobrine smirked…

...And vanished just before my sword struck. Instead, I crashed to the ground, the diamond edge of my blade skipping across the tile, sending chips and sparks flying. All that remained of Herobrine was a vague echo of his patronizing laughter.

The Endermen reacted as soon as I regained my feet. They circled around me, and one tried to hit me from behind. He never made it- the pommel of my sword swung around and up to hit it hard in the face.

I threw down the water I held earlier to ward off any other lightning attacks. The Endermen shied away from the spreading pool, and the one I struck was unlucky enough to touch it. With a grating scream, he vanished in a swirl of purple sparks. I knew he wouldn't come back, for fear of another water-burn.

The remaining two eyed me warily. I looked back and forth between them, anticipating another attack once the water drained away, and it was doing so quickly. I needed to act first.

My boots splashed hard as I made a running leap at one of the Endermen. As predicted, he teleported away. I pulled my feint as I landed to keep my balance. Also as predicted, he teleported back and tried to hit me from behind. As his mottled black-and-dark-grey arms closed around me, I stabbed viciously backwards. His scream rattled my ears.

Enderman still stuck to my by my blade, I rammed backwards, overbalancing us both and splashing down into the water. This one vanished as well to join his comrade, leaving me on the ground with only my sword and the water all drained away. I got to my feet, preparing to dispatch the last Enderman, but I wasn't fast enough. A pair of glowering violet eyes filled my field of view, and everything fell to blackness, fizzing with purple sparks.

I felt several blows to my body, cushioned by my cloak and armor, but I didn't open my eyes until the cold surface of a lake slapped me hard and swallowed me. Shocked back to consciousness, I jerked wildly, trying to orient myself, and accidentally sucked in lakewater. I flew to the surface, coughing and sputtering, then dragged myself to the shore, badly hampered by a wet cloak.

It wasn't until I had expelled all the water from my lungs that I realized I still had _Firefall _in my grasp. Shocked, I got to my feet and sheathed the sword. So I hadn't been killed after all. Relief flooded my senses. But that was quickly replaced by a sense of urgency. The village!

I didn't know where Herobrine would actually strike, but I had a horrible feeling. I took off in the general direction of the Temple of Notch, making for the village at the foot of the mountain. There was a red glare on the horizon- one that I recognized from the day Diamond City had burned. Knowing that lives were at stake, I ran all the harder, praying I wouldn't be too late.

Chest heaving and legs burning, I broke through the trees and ran up a small rise- to a view of perfect horror. There, on the other side of the valley, was the village. Burning. The walls around the village were rubble. Every wooden structure was aflame, and there were flows of lava filling the streets. Thunder rolled, and I watched as a fork of lightning struck the church tower, exploding the entire structure and sending debris flying. There was a long distance between me and the village, but I could hear the screams of the people inside clearly. Tears welled up in my eyes, and a scream of desperation tore free of my already rough voice. I began to move towards the village, hoping beyond hope that I could save someone. Anyone.

I was barely even able to stand when I reached the edges of the destruction. My legs barely responded after the mad race through the forest. By the time I arrived, the screams of terror had long since ceased, and a steady rain had begun to fall, stilling the lava flows to stone and subduing the fires. I was far, far, far too late. Herobrine had turned the village to ash, and massacred everyone inside. My legs gave out. I fell to my knees and slammed my fists into the ground, weeping bitterly.

I felt before I heard Herobrine approaching. My breathing had steadied, but my eyes were still bleary with tears. Knowing I was ill fit to fight in this state, I took a potion from my inventory, cradling it carefully in one hand, since potions were hard to come by. I regained my feet and struggled into a standing position, turning to face the wicked being.

Herobrine watched me weakly stand to face him and laughed at me.

"Such passion you had in my temple," He said mockingly. "Where has it all gone now? Was it drowned in your utter insignificance?" I only half-heard him, instead finding my focus gravitated towards the naked sword he held. The blade was larger and longer than the usual sword, and solid black. From what I'd heard, that sword had the capability to shear in two all but the strongest materials. Unconsciously, I reached for another item in my inventory- an object that would change the rules of respawn, allowing me to keep my items on my death and resetting my spawn point to a safer location. I used these only in emergencies, but I felt that this was a good time.

"Are there any last words you would like to make known?" Herobrine said. I looked at him quizzically. He elaborated. "I will not let you respawn safe and sound at FireForge, and Ember no longer exists. You will go where I want you to, which includes the Nether." I narrowed my eyes at him. Then I grinned mischievously.

"Not quite," I said. I threw down the potion- a splash potion- and set the command block specially prepared and pre-set for this time. Herobrine scowled. I grinned back, feeling my strength returning as the full virtue of the potion of regeneration set in. "Recognize this?" I asked, pointing at the command block. Herobrine's scowl darkened.

A bolt of lightning forked down and struck the block, but when my vision cleared, the block was still intact. Herobrine sighed.

"A temporary reprise, and nothing more," he said, raising his sword. I gripped _Firefall, _bracing myself.

"I cannot imprison you," Herobrine said in a warning tone, "But I can still make you SUFFER!" He lunged at me with blinding speed.

I barely got my sword up in time to block, but it made for little difference, for the strength of the blow sent me flying off my feet and into the burned-out shell that was probably once a library. Debris rained down on me as I clawed my way back up, only to be caught by the front of my chain shirt and hurled into the remains of the church tower. I slammed hard into the still-intact cobblestone wall, rebounding off and falling to hands and knees, coughing and wheezing.

A fireball hissed at me. Acting with speed I didn't know I had, I threw myself to the side and rolled away. The church tower, or what remained, was demolished.

Herobrine came on hard again, this time from above. I blocked his attack on _Firefall _again, but the impact sent a shock through my body and a starburst across my vision. Twisting his hips, Herobrine hooked a foot under my body and flipped me into the air, hitting me again in midair with a perfect roundhouse kick that sent me flying clear to the other side of the village.

If I had ever once thought I could fight Herobrine, I knew better now. I was beaten, thrown, cast high, and slammed down. At last, I took one hit too many. I tried to struggle to my feet once more, and immediately abandoned the notion when my entire body screamed its agonized protest.

"Your confidence seems to have waned dramatically," Herobrine said as he sauntered towards me, his black-bladed sword resting on one shoulder. I tried to glare at him, but I'm pretty sure I only looked pathetic. "Perhaps," Herobrine continued, "It's because you have discovered that all your noble dreams are useless. You are weak. All of you are weak, and none of you can defy me. Not Dragon, and not you."

I slid my eyes shut as his glittering black sword came down.


	3. Unanswered Questions

PART THREE: UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

I reawakened. Normally, respawning was a painless experience, comparable to waking up from a deep sleep. One would be a little confused and disoriented at first, but otherwise just fine. Not this time. My eyes snapped open and I sat up with a shout, and for a moment my mind was still trapped in that last awful moment when Herobrine's sword was slashing down...

Gasping, I realized that I was away from the battle and safe in one of my bunkers. I tucked my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around myself, still sweating and trembling.

It took a long time for me to calm down. There was still a burning sensation in my chest where I was struck, and when I finally unfolded and examined myself, I discovered that there was a long, jagged tear in my armor where I was hit. I sighed, shaking my head. It was time to face the facts.

It had been a very long season for me. To think that this all began with a perfectly innocent discovery, which we thought would give us a perfectly innocent- if more dangerous- adventure. Instead, we had released the Devil of Minecraft into the Overworld to wreck havoc on all of us. Now Dragon, my oldest and closest friend, was trapped in a place so very far away, going through who knew what pain in the clutches of Herobrine. And for the rest of us, a reign of terror had begun.

I cast off my coverlet and pulled myself out of bed. The command block had sent me to a bleak, strictly functional underground bunker lined with obsidian and lit with redstone lamps. There were only a few rooms- a bedroom, washroom, enchanting room, forge, and storage closet. There was also only one way in or out, by a ladder leading down to an escape tunnel at bedrock level. From there there were several routes to the surface.

Peeling off my armor and clothes, I went into the washroom in my undergarments to clean the sweat from myself and the blood and dust from my armor. I paused at the water cauldron that served as a basin, caught by my reflection. My eyes were rimmed with red, and my skin looked pale and sick over somewhat hollowed cheeks. I looked terrible. On impulse, I dunked my hands into the water and splashed my face, shaking the dark thoughts from my mind.

I cleaned my chain mail in the trough of fresh water running through the washroom. When I finished, I regarded my clothes and armor with distaste. My cloak was in rags, with the re-enforced hood scorched and slashed. The mail shirt had several holes, and my gauntlets and leg armor were dented and deeply scored. Realizing that I had work to do, I pulled back on my plain Steve clothes and took up my things to the forge.

I spent a lot of time down in my bunker, resting, recovering, and repairing my armor. I had a store of iron and diamonds in my storage down there, so I repaired my chain mail, adding diamond reinforcement. My leg armor was refitted. My cloak, I simply threw away. I stitched a new one instead. Everything was enchanted further using the anvil and the few precious enchanted books I kept. When that was done, I took to reading the _Chronicles._

The three books of the _Chronicles _were still in my possession, so after I had finished my armor, I stayed in the bunker to safely read them. To be honest, I didn't stay just for that. I was reluctant to leave my hiding place after my last ordeal. So, when the wall clock said it was evening outside, I sat on the edge of my bed and opened the cover to _Chronicle I._

The first pages I was already familiar with. The tale they told was of Notch, and how he had imagined into being a vast empty land, and began shaping it into the universe of Minecraft. Herobrine worked alongside him, filling in many small details while Notch made the bigger picture. Herobrine had a skilled hand and a sharp eye for beauty, and he made beautiful things very well.

The next chapters cited the creation of two races, the Villagers, and the Steves. The next, of different dimensions.

Then there was information on the fall of Herobrine, and an ancient event that we all knew well, the Ender War. I began to read more eagerly when I reached this. But to my surprise, the Chronicle was very brief- In fact, it only vaguely suggested that Herobrine had changed, painting the picture that one day he was good, and the next he vanished, and when he returned, he tried to destroy everything. I knew that there was something missing. A lot missing. So Herobrine fell to evil and madness and was banished to the Nether, but why? He took a hand in the Ender War, but why? The _Chronicle _did not say.

I felt that what the _Chronicles _did not mention was exactly what I needed to know. The books spoke of Herobrine falling to madness or some sickness of the mind or heart- they didn't say that he was simply evil. I pondered on this for a while, and then I realized something.

Herobrine himself just might be the one suffering the most from this.

The second _Chronicle _reviewed many of the same events from a less divine perspective, and then described the evolution of the Villager's society in the world, and then the reconstruction of the Steves'. Again, I felt that there was something missing. Was the Ender War, the time of the attack of the Endermen, so destructive that all of Stevedom had to rebuild? When exactly was our fall? Was it really because of Herobrine, or was it something else entirely? Then I opened the third _Chronicle, _but it was mostly written in a language I could not read. This was apparently a _Chronicle _of all the happenings _beyond _the Overworld. However, there were a few things I could read.

I found all sorts of detailed descriptions of creatures that I hadn't ever seen before, of different places such as the Nether, and a lot of detail on the Aether, Notch's realm. I learned what Netherrack really was, and the other things of the Nether like the use of fireballs as weapons. Now _that _I was familiar with, after my battle with Herobrine. I flipped through the rest of the pages that were in languages I couldn't read, looking at the pictures. One thing caught my eye.

A sword just like Herobrine's.

At long last, two days later, I decided that I needed to face reality again, and leave the comfort of safety behind for now. Just sitting here would do the Overworld no good.

Since the _Chronicles _didn't have all that I needed, I decided to go and look for more information first. If I was found by Herobrine, I had a few backup plans to get away. If worst came to worst, I had a last ditch plan of putting down a command block and committing suicide to save myself- and my precious research- from Herobrine.

The clock read morning when I was packed and ready to go. I had my plans all worked out, and this time I would not be running blind. I had the maps in the _Chronicles, _and a clear purpose in mind. I would stop briefly at the Temple complex first, since there were still things to be found there that I needed. It was a risky spot to go, but I didn't have many options. Afterwards, I would travel across the mountains that housed the temple and go into territory that no Steve had set foot in since the fall of Herobrine.

Tying off the clasp on my cloak, I took my walking stick from the corner and secured it to the straps under my cloak. Switching off the lamps, I descended the ladder in utter darkness.

* * *

My chest was aching again. It had started soon after my reawakening in the bunker, these chest pains and nightmares. I could only sleep fitfully these days, and I would often awaken screaming and grasping at a terrible wound that no longer existed. Herobrine haunted my dreams each night, showing me terrible things. I would relive those moments of terror when he had me helpless on the ground, or he would show me the horrors of the Nether, and worse, he would show me Dragon suffering every one.

The Temple of Notch was in view at long last when I was given another terrible fright. I began to see Herobrine out of the corners of my eyes _during my waking hours. _I tried to ignore them, but then again, I couldn't. Mostly, I knew that they weren't real. But what if they were? I could never tell.

I entered the stone and stained glass and diamond temple with a sense of trepidation. It was a bad idea to re-enter the temple grounds after what had happened, and that I knew, but I didn't know what else to do. There were too many secrets still hiding from me for me not to feel anxious.

_Chronicle II _had a map of the ancient complexes. I pulled out the book now and flipped to the page I needed. The priest back in the FireForge village had spoken of a great lost library, which I had not yet found. I had instead found the temple of Herobrine, and that didn't leave me in a good situation at all. And that discovery had been sheer luck, anyway. The map I had been given back home just showed me an entrance. This one showed me the whole network of rooms and tunnels. Now I knew where to look.

The passage was surprisingly easy to find. Underneath a set of newer pillars was a loose pile of dirt. I had to break a few blocks, but I was able to uncover a staircase leading down into the original temples. The rest from there was easy. Unlike the area around Herobrine's temple, the corridors where laid out in a grid-like pattern, rather than a labyrinth. According to the _Chronicle, _the library was at the rear of the temple complex, at the heart of the Temple mountain. I found it within minutes, and reflected on how much easier it was to search with the proper guide.

The library wasn't in fact overly massive, but I still paused in the doorway to take in the sight. The library proper was two stories, three in the middle under where a skylight once was, and there were ladders and catwalks going up to the second-story shelves. The walls were lined with books, and there were lots of lower free-standing shelves laid out in no particular order, making the place seem like a pleasant if simple maze to meander through. The library had a very homely atmosphere, with its red carpets and polished shelves of dark wood.

Torch held carefully aloft, I followed the diagram in _Chronicle II _of the library and came to its central point, where all the high tales and histories were kept. There were books displayed here on pedestals and podiums, rather than on shelves. I slowly examined each, admiring the beautiful tooling on the leather covers, when I saw something that I couldn't help but take notice to...

Placing my torch in an empty bracket, I came to three empty pedestals, _Chronicle II _in hand. Slowly, I placed the book into the carefully made wooden frame, and sure enough, it fit perfectly. Clearly, the _Chronicles _were meant to be here in the library, and had been here up until recently, as I noticed that the frames were dusty save for where the books once sat.

"So why were these in Herobrine's temple?" I whispered to the darkness around me, confused.

"Because I had them put there for you," said Herobrine. I started violently and whirled around, almost knocking over the pedestal holding _Chronicle II._ Herobrine was only an arm-span away from me. How did he get so close without me noticing?! Immediately, I drew my sword.

Herobrine chuckled- a notably different laugh from before, much less diabolical- and held up his hands, taking a few steps backwards... passing right through a pedestal. I lowered _Firefall, _realizing that he wasn't actually here, but I was still shaken and suspicious. Was I hallucinating again? Wary, I reclaimed the _Chronicle. _

"How did you know I was here?" I asked softly, looking around in case the _real _Herobrine was anywhere nearby, ready to pounce. Ghost-Herobrine smiled humorlessly and strode forward until he stood face-to-face with me. He tapped an immaterial finger to the point where he'd stabbed me back at the village.

"That wound," he said, "was inflicted by a sword imbued with properties of the End. It is a curse sword." I backed up, accidentally bumping against a bookshelf.

"Exactly what does that mean?" I asked, worried that Herobrine might be able to track me.

"Unfortunately, it only allows me access to your mind. While useful, so that I may converse with you when we are in the same dimension, it has limitations. And a few symptoms you may already be aware of." he said. He caught my scowl and took it as confirmation.

After a long pause, I cautiously asked,

"Why did you want me to find the _Chronicles_?" My voice betrayed my suspicion.

"So you could find what you needed. You wished for information on the threat to you and your friends, and that would be me- and my condition. Now that we have the time, I will give you another hint." Herobrine waved his hand towards a book off to his right, and it was highlighted with purple light.

_The Book of Herobrine. _

"I don't trust you," I muttered darkly. Why was my enemy being so helpful, anyway?

"Smart girl," said Herobrine. I glared at him. "It is wise not to trust me. Instead, trust _him_." He highlighted another book and vanished. I took a look at the title of this one, right next to the _Book of Herobrine._

_The Book of Notch. _

I wondered what Herobrine wanted with me.

* * *

I huddled close to the small campfire burning in the back of a cave that I used as my camp. I was in the hills on the other side of the Temple Mountain, taking shelter while a thunderstorm raged outside. _The Book of Notch _was clasped in my hands, and I struggled to see the markings clearly in the dim firelight.

_The Book of Herobrine, _to my dismay, had turned out to be written in a language I was unable to read. So was _The Book of Notch. _Frustrated, I kept staring at the pages, hoping that just looking at the foreign letters would bring me answers. With a sigh, I finally put it away and brought out _Chronicle II, _and studied the maps of where I was going instead, to try to calm my mind. Then I gave up, falling to my bedroll with a huff. At least my nightmares had stopped since my conversation with Herobrine.

The storm cleared early the next morning. I trekked on, with my cloak wrapped around me tight against the damp, and my boots sinking deep in mud. Miles went by, and when the sun began to sink on the second day, I saw my destination in the distance.

I took out _Chronicle II _just to be sure, and sure enough, the rubble I saw in the distance matched what I saw pictured in the book. I checked against the sun, and my positioning was correct. Stowing the _Chronicle, _I decided to take a look at the ruins while I still had a few hours of daylight left.

The place I had been traveling towards was a city once belonging to the Steve race. It was the greatest of the cities, with not one but dozens of Steves behind its building. Legend had it that Herobrine himself had helped them. Legend also had it that this was the site of the start of the Ender war.

The 'Ender War' was a catastrophic event in history that all of the Steves today knew something or other about. Our village priests had all told us. Supposedly, it began at the time of the Fall of Herobrine, when he turned on his brother. The tales were gruesome. Endermen and their Strongholds began appearing everywhere, and Endermen would attack by the hundreds. Herobrine would turn loose every power he had on us, creating terrible monsters that roamed both night and day, and destroying that which we had built with the earthshaking might he had.

Winded from my travels, I stepped onto the remains of a paved street and rested for a while, looking around me. The outskirts of the city were still in many ways intact where I found them, with the streets still mostly smooth, and many of the buildings still standing. There were many towers about- I thought they were beacon towers or something, but upon climbing one, I found a collection of note blocks.

A bell tower.

I climbed back down and kept traveling.

The center of the city, as I quickly discovered, was just one giant torque-shaped crater, with the island in the middle holding an intact structure of gold. That design was familiar- I had seen this in the Temple complex back home. A solid gold structure, sitting atop a dais of blue lapis stone on a floor checked with obsidian and cracked white quartz...

Herobrine's temple. Huh.

So Herobrine _was _part of this city.

The sun was setting, so I decided to pick a point to explore and then hole up for the night. On the other side of the crater, there was a very large palace-like structure made of graceful curves of stone brick and glass. It looked much like several of the other buildings, but it caught my attention because not only was much of it demolished, but parts of it had been transformed into obsidian and a pale splotchy stone in the same way that parts of Diamond City had been transformed into Netherrack and Soul Sand.

Inside, the palace was simply breathtaking. Diamond and glass, lapis, gold, stone brick and plaster. Chandeliers hung from every arch. Huge windows of stained glass stood across every corridor and hall. With a pang of heartache, I thought of how such magnificent structures had once graced Diamond City as well.

An echoing sound of an impact made me jump and then freeze in my tracks. Was the place collapsing? No rubble or dust was falling...

Voices. I could hear voices speaking in the language of the End.

Sliding to the wall, I slowly made my way to the corner from which I had heard the sounds and peeked inside. A group of five Endermen were in a circle around a kneeling figure holding himself up by his sword. His gleaming _black _sword. The Endermen appeared to be taunting him, and I watched as one of the things struck him. Not daring to breath, I concealed myself and made a face. What the heck?

A masculine cry of genuine pain made my curiosity too much to bear. I looked out again, to see Herobrine's face tight with pain as he regarded one of the Endermen with a hateful look. A bright weal on his arm was quickly fading. The Endermen...They were _torturing _him? I thought back to the end of _Chronicle II_ and the Ender War, and slowly, the pieces came together.

The _Chronicles _painted a vague picture at best for the reasons for Herobrine's fall. But they did say that something happened to shake Herobrine's unfailing love for us. We were his creation, after all, and he loved us most. It was implied that at one point, the Steves had grown selfish and denied Herobrine as their god. The Endermen also changed as well, going from stoic observers to hostile stalkers. Resenting the Steves, they convinced Herobrine to punish us. Herobrine lost his sanity.

Probably because the Endermen's form of 'convincing' was through intense pain. From the things I was hearing, the Endermen probably intended to keep it as it was, with Herobrine out to kill us. I wondered if they had found out about how he had spoken to me in the library.

The awful sounds of torture continued behind me, and I heard Herobrine cry out again, and then speak to the Endermen, panting.

"I -have not forgotten the oath!" he said in a strained voice. Another shout of pain and a cloud of Ender language flew by my ears.

"I will!" Herobrine exclaimed, then after a burst of Ender tongue, shouted, "I WILL!" This was followed by the sound of a whip and a cry of both pain and frustration.

"Why do you doubt that?" Herobrine gasped. "I will finish what I began!" I cringed. His tone had changed- going from that of a desperate man to the monster I battled at the Temple village. Things were going downhill. And as much as I hated Herobrine, it shook me that something like the Endermen had enough power to bring someone as strong as Herobrine so low. He was, after all, a god, being the younger brother of Notch.

Herobrine cried out again, in a totally different tone and volume. I had to act quickly, or else Herobrine the Monster would reawaken. Water buckets in hand, I flew around the corner and cast them high in the air, praying that my aim was good. More importantly, that I had made the right choice.

The water landed right where I needed it to. One bucket landed just behind the group, the other just before. Water flowed, and five Endermen screamed in unison and vanished.

Herobrine was left alone, on his knees in a now-receding pool of water, leaning on his sword with both hands and with his forehead resting against the pommel. He was breathing hard, and seemingly unable to fight just yet.

I unfroze my limbs and stepped out into the open. Cautiously, I began to approach the kneeling figure.

Suddenly, I was floating in the air, suspended by my wrists and ankles, which were held by glowing bands of purple fire. Another band was wrapped tightly around my throat. The neckband choked my gasp of surprise, and I struggled against the magic, eyes bulging. Herobrine stood up, and was suddenly floating in the air before me, eyes glowering dangerously with malice, like coals on a fire.

I glared back at those eyes, unfazed. _I _had just saved the lamebrain fool from the Endermen, thank you! I would not cower in front of him now, not when he had just turned on his rescuer.

"Would you like to see the tale of this city?" Herobrine asked softly. Held tight by the magical bonds, and with barely enough air as it was, I did not answer. Instead, I focused on breathing as much as I could to ease the dizziness that was taking my head.

Suddenly, Herobrine raised his arm and I shot up into the air through a gap in the ceiling, hovering high over the city. Unable to turn my head, I strained my eyes downwards at the fast-receding ground in terror.

The angle of my body changed so that I faced the ground. The sky had gone dark already. Herobrine flew up to rest next to me, and the landscape below shimmered and changed. The ruins were replaced by a small settlement populated by a handful of Steves, who were building roads and marking the foundations for the things they would build. Herobrine was right there with them.

The view changed again, this time to show me a massive megalopolis that took my breath away. Not that I had much to begin with. There seemed to be a celebration going on, with many, many Steves roaming the streets and crowding the main square. Herobrine stood atop his temple, waving and casting fireballs off into the night to land on prepared bonfires or to light bundles of fireworks. Music was playing from the bell towers.

The scene changed again. But this time, the crowd around the temple was an angry mob, not a joyful, celebrating crowd.

From there, I saw a series of changes, each more destructive than the last. But each time, it was the Steves that were attacking Herobrine, not the other way around. And the Steves fighting each other. I frowned.

"Surprised?" Herobrine asked from my side. I kept watching the scene below. "This was the real beginning of the conflict you know as the Ender War." I thought of all the things I had been told about the war and compared it with this. I had to admit, there was contrast, and a lot of it, but then I remembered the _Chronicles. _They supported this story, and they were penned by Steves.

"See how your people destroyed what was built for them," Herobrine said, scowling. "See how they rebelled against their creator."

"My brother would not help me then!" he snarled. "Not in my darkest hour, when I needed him most! I had to take matters into my own hands. I unleashed your punishment upon you! I did what was justified! But what did I earn for it? What did I earn for delivering discipline when it is due? Exile" He spat the last word.

Herobrine began lowering us both to the ground.

"The fault for this tragedy is not mine," Herobrine said darkly. "I am not the one to blame. How I curse the day my brother gave you free will. It is your fault this is all destroyed, and my brother's for making you able to do such things!" My eyes widened as a Nether portal appeared and activated below my feet. I looked at Herobrine, eyes wide.

"I swore an oath to make you pay," said Herobrine, activating the portal.

"And I will make every one of you pay."

Unable to make the slightest sound under the choking neckband, I was dropped through the portal.


	4. The Wager

PART IV: THE WAGER

I suddenly found voice to scream as I hurtled through the portal and crashed down onto the ground. Free of the End-powered chains, I flopped and rolled awkwardly until I could right myself. The heat was unbearable- my skin flared an angry red where it touched the ground. Sweat had begun to break out on my skin.

As I regained my feet, I looked wildly around. I seemed to be in a cavern of incredible proportions, with every surface made up of a rough red-orange-brown stone, patched with sinkholes of crumbly brown sand. The lighting was very dim; the only source of illumination came from hot glowing lava and from veins of luminescent yellow crystal packed in the stone overhead. This was Herobrine's realm: The Nether.

I dove around a corner and ran as Herobrine's voice came through the portal, weirdly warped, his words undecipherable. Aware that he was coming closer and able to sense his malice around me, I needed no other encouragement to flee for my life. A resounding quake rumbled through the stone as the portal was used once again and deactivated.

I can't say for just how long I ran through the heat and smoky red haze. I kept up a maddening pace for some time, driven to the extreme by terror. It was as if Herobrine was only a few paces behind me, taunting me. I do know that I could hear his sneering laughter clearly and crisply wherever I went. Lost in the endless reaches of the Nether, all I could think of was escape.

Eventually, I slowed my pace to a dogged walk, suffocating in the heat, and trying to keep moving uphill to escape the blistering seas of lava below. Before I realized it, I had walked up onto a walkway made up of bricks of a dark material that radiated blissful cool. Mind fogged by heat and fatigue, I stopped and rested against the low wall, leaning and sliding into a sitting position. Somehow assured that Herobrine wasn't still on my tail, or simply too winded to care, I stayed where I was.

It took several minutes for my breathing to return to normal and for my greying-out vision to clear. It was then that I realized that running full-out down here in these conditions was far more dangerous than moving at a slower pace and risking capture. If I exhausted myself before finding a way out, or passed out and was caught, then where would I be?

Once I'd recovered, I carefully rolled to my feet and fiddled with my armor, shifting it subtly until it was back into a comfortable position. Pacing myself this time, I set off down the brick causeway.

To my dismay, I discovered that the seemingly desolate Nether was in fact, not devoid of all life. There were many different creatures about. I was first warned of their presence by their calls. Then I was warned of their hostility when a small fireball flew past my face, narrowly missing me.

With a shout of surprise, I backpedaled as fast as I could and ducked back around the corner I had come. The brick causeway, where it crossed over lava or ravines, had a low wall which I then took shelter against. Quickly, I unslung _Skyfall _from my back and nocked an arrow.

Behind me, there were hovering creatures with bodies that appeared to be made up of two tiers of vertical hovering rods arranged in rotating circles. Their heads floated above the second tier. They attacked by spitting fireballs at their prey. According to _Chronicle III _these creatures were called 'Blazes'.

I spun around the corner and fired off the arrow at the nearest blaze, then hid again to nock two more arrows. Both arrows also embedded themselves into the creature's head, then a third, and a fourth blew it into a white cloud that receded immediately. Two more approached.

Arrows weren't fast enough. Dodging three more fireballs, I put away _Skyfall _and drew _Firefall, _the diamond blade glistening strangely bright under the dim Nether light.

Another fireball flew towards me. I slapped it aside with the flat of my blade. Charging down the causeway, I raised my sword and struck the head of one of the blazes, cleaving through it neatly and cutting several of its rods as well. It perished instantly.

Another fireball from the last blaze came at me. I swung my hips to the side, not quite fast enough. The fireball grazed my leg armor, singing the flesh between the chinks in the iron. I yelled in pain, then struck down that creature as well.

I heard something else from above- it sounded suspiciously like a child whimpering. Puzzled, I looked up, then immediately dove for cover with a surprised cry as a fireball flew down at me. Above me, there hovered an absolutely enormous ghost-white flying blob with tentacles. To be honest, that's the best I can do to describe it. It was huge. And it was _ugly. _The _Chronicle _called this one a 'Ghast'.

Another fireball came down. Leaping out into the open, I batted the fireball straight back at the thing, and to my surprise, it keeled over and died. Slain by its own weapon. Blinking, I sheathed _Firefall _and kept moving.

I'm not entirely sure just how long I traveled. Time is genuinely distorted in the Nether. It was impossible to keep track of what time of day it was, since my clock, when I checked, was spinning randomly. I simply moved on forward doggedly, stopping several times to eat and a few more times to rest. I never did risk sleep. I was constantly aware that Herobrine was somewhere behind me and possibly still coming closer, and I didn't want to get caught, at least not yet. I had to find the way back to the Overworld first.

As I climbed the stairs leading into a broad fortress made of brick, I heard a sound that made me freeze. Footsteps. Of the human kind. Peeking around the corner at the top of the stairs, I saw a familiar sharp-boned face framed by dark hair.

Herobrine.

Luckily, he was turned away from me and walking in the opposite direction of where I stood. As he turned the corner and vanished from sight, I put a hand on the hilt of _Firefall _and slowly stepped into the fortress as quietly as I could. I made it about halfway inside.

Someone tapped my shoulder, making me nearly jump out of my skin. On instinct, I whipped _Firefall _from its sheath and swung, but I hit nothing. Instead, I got a good look at Herobrine smirking at me. Then my sword sliced through the illusion and it dissipated.

From behind, something sharp struck my sword arm up on the shoulder and sheared through my armor. I howled, _Firefall _slipping out of my grip and ringing on the floor.

Dropping to one knee, I clamped my good hand over my shoulder, groaning at the fresh agony. My arm tucked itself closer to my body, easing the pain slightly.

"Are you ever _not _going to fall for that?" Herobrine mocked as he put away his dark-bladed sword. I turned my head to glare at him. He sighed. "Steves are too easily caught."

Herobrine dropped a hand onto my good shoulder. Wrenching free before he could get a grip, I threw my weight away from him and staggered, trying to gain my balance. But Herobrine reappeared right in front of me, and I couldn't stop before running straight into him. He gave me a hard shove backwards, back through the doorway of the fortress.

Faster than I could react, Herobrine was up close again. Seizing my throat, he lifted me high off my feet and rammed me against the wall, holding me there. Stars exploded across my vision as my head connected with the hard bricks.

Flexing my neck in an attempt to save my windpipe, I gripped his wrist with my good hand and swung my legs towards him, aiming to loosen his grip. Herobrine moved his body gracefully out of the way, and put his fist hard into my belly for my efforts. My breath _whoofed _out of me. Eyes wide, no oxygen left, I struggled vainly in Herobrine's grasp. My vision began closing in at the edges as my limbs weakened, warning me that time was running out.

Suddenly the crushing pressure was gone. Nothing holding me up, I fell off the wall and crashed to the ground, laying there crumpled for a moment, still stunned. My sword was a few feet away- I somehow still had the presence of mind to scrabble for it. But it rose in the air before I could reach it, flying away to clatter a ways down the causeway. A boot landed firmly on my back.

I cursed silently as Herobrine cut me down.

* * *

Respawning, as we know, should be a painless thing. But, also as we know, this is never the case when slain by Herobrine. It is unpleasant when one is slain with a curse sword and must respawn from that. It is doubly so when one must respawn in the Nether. I had the nasty sensation of being squeezed through a one-inch tube, then spat out onto the hard ground. Awakening with a jerk, I sat up and put a hand to my head, which was throbbing. Still dizzy and groggy, I examined my surroundings.

Blinking, I realized that all of my possessions were gone, and I was sitting on the floor with only my Steve uniform of a white shirt over blue pants. I was inside a bleak chamber with walls, floor, and ceiling all made of that dark, purple-brown brick, with a block of glowing yellow crystal centered in the ceiling for light. There were no visible doors and no windows.

The events prior to my respawning were slow to filter back, as always. When they did, I swore. Herobrine had caught me and stomped all over my pride, toying with me and then crushing me like an insect beneath a boot- again.

A familiar voice made me jump.

"Huntress?" a thin and tired male voice said clearly from behind a wall, "Is that you?" I immediately sprang to my feet.

"Dragon!" I exclaimed. Breathless, I went up to the wall that I had heard his voice emitting from and started tapping for weak points. The brick walls were constructed in a way that the bricks fitted tightly with very little mortar. They would be tricky to loosen, but if I was lucky, I might be able to knock one free.

"How did you get down here?" Dragon asked. Distracted by my work, I only offered an offhand answer.

"A stupid mistake. Hang on-" A brick slid loose in its setting. I scrabbled at it, inching it out slowly. Dragon was not satisfied.

"Huntress? I need a full story. _How did he catch you?" _His voice held a measure of urgency. I finished pulling out the brick and fumbled for a split second- they were heavier than I thought. Then I set it carefully on the ground, so I could replace it when I needed to. I sighed inwardly.

"It's a really long story," I warned, beckoning Dragon over to the opening. He gave me a perfectly innocent look.

"I have time," Dragon replied in a mischievous tone with a perfectly straight face. I rolled my eyes and went into my tale.

"So it started when the priest summoned me to the village from FireForge..."

* * *

A heavy metallic clanking aroused me from my light doze on the floor of my cell. It was always a light doze- one could never sleep on nothing but hard brick. Warily, I got to my feet, watching as an entire wall slid down into the floor to reveal a grille of bars. Herobrine stood on the opposite side in the torchlit hallway.

This was not his first visit to my cell. He had come before, for varying reasons. Once to question me. Other times seemingly just to talk, but I was always suspicious of him. Once he simply opened the wall and watched me, looking very worn and lonely himself. I was aware he was insane, but his personality was absolutely erratic. It seemed to be growing less so, but one could never be sure.

Herobrine looked calm and collected from behind the iron bars, but I caught a look in his eyes that betrayed internal strife. I gulped. This could be troublesome. That look meant Herobrine had questions. And if I answered something in a way not to his liking, he tended to get mad. I had several bruises from that. Iron bars would not stop his fireballs or any other powers he had.

"Why did you stop the Endermen?" he asked me smoothly, not showing any of the emotion that I saw in his eyes. I gave him a quizzical look. His voice sounded impatient suddenly.

"In the ruins, where I captured you, why did you stop the Endermen?" He wanted an answer.

"I..." I started, my throat too dry. Swallowing a few times, I tried again.

"I was..." What was I doing? "I was acting on a hunch." That sounded about right. I _did _act on a hunch, suspecting that the Endermen were behind this.

"What sort of... hunch?" Herobrine asked. I looked away from his piercing gaze, uncomfortable.

"Something wasn't right," I said, then mentally kicked myself. Such a stupid answer! "I... The Endermen..." I was stuttering again, which happened a lot when I spoke to Herobrine. _For the love of Notch_, when he stared at me, I just went numb. His eyes were unsettling at best. Right now, they were leaving me helplessly frozen and tongue-tied. I can't tell you how terrifying he is just _looking _at you. "The Endermen... They were torturing you. According to everything I have ever been taught, that isn't right. They're supposed to be your subjects. And the _Chronicles _said that there was something wrong with them. That they..." I trailed off, not knowing what exactly to say.

Herobrine's eyes hardened. He stood, slowly coming up to the bars and resting a hand on them. In my cell, there was nowhere to hide. I felt so venerable just standing there.

"What makes you think that they were ever my subjects?" he asked coldly.

"That's what I was _told._" I retorted. "I was just trying to find the _truth, _that's all."

Herobrine suddenly turned and left, hitting the lever that put the wall back in place as he paced down the hall. I blinked at the solid wall of bricks and sat down on the floor again.

I wondered blandly when I would be given something to eat as I got comfortable again, trying to shake the image of Herobrine's burning white eyes out of my mind.

* * *

Footsteps alerted me of someone coming again. They weren't human- so it wasn't Herobrine-, but no company was good company down here. Warily, I rolled to my feet and stood, glancing back to make sure that the loose brick on Dragon's wall was back in position once again. Half of the back wall slid away, revealing a tall doorway through which several skeletons entered. I stood straight, wondering what was happening.

The skeletons that came in were 'wither' skeletons, according to _Chronicle III._Each one was armed with an iron sword and fully decked in iron armor. The skeletons formed a squad around me, boxing me in. One prodded me in the back with its sword; I took the hint and began to move forward with the group. We marched out the doorway and into the hall.

The fortress was an utter labyrinth. After six intersections, I totally lost track of where my cell was behind me and I didn't know where we were headed. For several minutes, I was walked through the brick corridors in silence by my skeletal jailors, passing several places where the roof increased in height or where a set of doors broke the monotony. At last, we came to a door at the end of a corridor, across from a barred window. The door was solid iron with no visible power sources on our side, but it opened to grant me entry nonetheless. My escort was unable to enter, as all three of the skeletons were too tall for the Steve-sized door. A voice beckoned me inside.

"Come in."

Cautiously, I broke away from the wither skeletons and stepped inside the room, jumping slightly when the door slammed shut again. I was standing within a low-roofed study of sorts, with several of the walls covered by bookshelves and a desk at the far end of the room, scattered with papers and books. I recognized the thick leather-bound _Chronicles. _A familiar dark-haired figure sat at the desk, writing something in a book.

"Come forward," Herobrine said, shutting the book and standing to face me. Under his withering white gaze, I helplessly moved forward obediently, anxious of Herobrine's unstable nature. I stopped several paces from the desk when Herobrine held up a hand for me to halt, and then he turned to face the unglazed window to the side of his desk on the wall. It was a pointless aesthetic gesture within the design of the room- That window revealed nothing more than the dark and bleak landscape of the Nether. Besides, it was bringing in an uncomfortably warm draft.

"Do you wish to know why I was banished to the Nether?" Herobrine asked in a dim tone, half to himself in a sadly musing way. I swallowed and remained silent.

"You were taught," he said in a clearer tone, facing me,"that it was for my crimes against the people of the Overworld." It was no question- Herobrine already knew all the lore that the Villager race had taught all the modern Steves. Unconsciously, I nodded.

"There is another reason," Herobrine continued. "One that runs deeper." He produced the book he had written in earlier- _The Book of Herobrine- _and stroked its cover. "You see, I had committed such terrible deeds under the influence of madness. You are aware of this." He walked over to his desk and picked up another book, putting it and _The Book of Herobrine _away. I briefly wondered how the inventory of a god would function.

"In the beginning of the war, I truly believed that the Overworld had earned its punishment. But I had meant for it to end quickly, so long as your race learned its lesson. Instead, I descended into madness. A sort of madness that I believe was inflicted, rather than simply developed. You are aware of the nature of the Endermen?" He looked me dead in the eye. I nodded.

"Then you probably suspect that they were not always that way. Not if you have read the things I provided you," he said, gesturing to the _Chronicles. _I moved my eyes to the books, if only to keep myself from being paralyzed by his ghostly look. Mentally shaking off my helplessness and scolding myself for my weakness, I fortified myself to speak.

"Why did you send me the _Chronicles_?" I asked, my voice still much softer than I would have liked. I cleared my throat. "Why did you show me where I could find the _Book of Notch_?" I might as well find out now. Herobrine smiled wryly.

"I have had overmuch time to think in my imprisonment here," Herobrine replied, "Enough to plan. I have taken steps to find and groom for myself a sort of tool, one that can be used against the source of my madness." I narrowed my eyes.

"What are you getting at?" I said hotly, summoning up my courage to glare at him. I was beginning to suspect where this was going, but with Herobrine, you could never know. Herobrine went over to the other door in the room, the one opposite to the window, and opened it, gesturing for me to come through as he held it aside.

"Allow me to explain in my own way," Herobrine said calmly and coolly. "You will understand it better that way."

Still glaring at Herobrine, I stiffly walked through the door, hearing him pass through behind me to shut it. Blinking, I looked around.

The room was totally unlike the rest of the fortress. In fact, I could hardly call it a room. It was a massive hall, with shining white quartz floors and pillars and a vaulted roof, hanging from which were chandeliers generously stocked with torches. The center of the room was accentuated by a purple running rug leading up to a raised dais of obsidian at the far end, on top of which was an obsidian throne. A stained glass window of black and purple soared from floor to roof behind the dais. Herobrine strolled towards his throne, brushing past me. Dumbly, I followed, until I stood just below him on the rug leading to the dais. He seated himself, leaning on the left armrest.

"You like it?" Herobrine asked, gesturing slightly to the chamber around us. I didn't bother to answer, instead cocking my head and studying the arrangement of pillars around the stained glass behind the throne to the right. "I had ten thousand years to waste down here. Needless to say, I did plenty of building. You do not need the power of a god to create something beautiful." I glanced back at him.

"Can we get back to the subject?" I prompted, doing my best to show my annoyance with my words. I have to say, no matter how much you hate Herobrine, he is still a force to be reckoned with, and even now, I felt the instinctive urge to pay reverence. His very aura was that of a divine being, disgraced or no. He exuded power and regal grace. Seated on his throne, I thought back to the picture in the book that the priest had shown me and internally shivered. Right now he looked every bit the ultimate force of evil in Minecraft. I found myself unable to continue meeting his eyes as they hardened at me.

"I will begin," Herobrine said deliberately in a warning tone, "with all that I can personally recall of the war you know as the Ender war." The change in his voice shocked me. His voice had dropped an octave, into a very deep register, going from smooth tenor to powerful bass. The voice of a trickster to the voice of a god. His low, cold, on-the-brink-of-anger tone made me physically shudder. I thought of a dog being broken and figured that this was how the animals felt. Cowed, I looked at my feet and shut my mouth.

"The war began with the treachery of the Steves." said Herobrine. "I know not why they changed, but I found that they had turned away from what I had taught them and were misusing their gifts and tools for more than just their gain. They would fight each other, even kill one another, or kill members of the Villager race. Or, they would hunt and kill Endermen. Remember, this was before my brother had bestowed upon your race the ability to respawn. Each death was permanent." I sucked in my breath. Were we really that bad? I thought back to the _Chronicles. _Maybe I had misinterpreted the way they had described the war. If the Steves were violent to _each other, _that would explain much of what had happened.

"I had decided to punish the Steve race," Herobrine continued, "by destroying their greed. I took away from them many of their material things- their diamonds and emeralds, and some of their weaponry. I collapsed their mines. When their violence continued, I took more drastic steps. I forced them back from the heart of their greatest city and destroyed much of it from atop my temple. That was when my brother came to visit me.

"Notch questioned my actions and what had motivated me to such measures. I answered truthfully- surely he would understand!- but he condemned the punishment I had delivered and demanded that I use another method. I asked for his help, but he refused. I was left to deal with my creations alone.

"Left to despair for my fallen people, I was paid a visit by the unlikeliest of things. I had left the city and all of my temples to wander the wilderness, when I was found by an Endermen. He was alone, unarmed, and seemed to simply be there to speak with me. I had always been good friends with the Endermen- I had confided in them all of my grievances against the Steve race, and when they were terrorized by the Steves, I would give them abilities of their own to defend themselves. But he had other motives that day.

"The Enderman began to speak with me, of course, but it became clear that he was intending to gain something from me. When I angrily asked what he was getting at, much like your outburst earlier, he explained that he and his people wanted me to wipe out the Steve race. I was shocked that he would be so bold, and immediately refused. But not for long. You see, it was then that the Endermen attacked. I tried to simply banish him back to the End, and found that I could not.

"It was then that I realized that I had been betrayed. Notch had taken away most of my power after seeing the destruction I had wrecked on the Steve city, and now I was left helpless to the Endermen. I escaped that day, but from then on they followed me. The first seeds of madness began then, and I grew less and less able to defend myself from the power of the End. Then one day..." Herobrine's eyes had slowly trailed off of mine and were now focused somewhere in the distance.

"One day, I was taken. I was powerless, and the End had full control of me. No greater shame have I suffered than that defeat, for it was after that day I became truly insane." Then he said softly in his smooth tenor voice once more,

"I can no longer remember for myself what happened while my mind was in the throes of madness." My belly clenched. It was unnerving, hearing how badly he had been defeated by the Endermen. To think that a god could fall so far against his will...

"When Notch finally found me," Herobrine said, abandoning his awe-inspiring bass voice for his usual smoother tenor, "I was little more than a puppet. How I hated him, for abandoning me and betraying my people. In a way, I was right. It was his fault. Perhaps I would not have lost my sanity had I still possessed the power of a god. Perhaps the Steve race would not have become so evil if he had not given them the gift of free will in the first place. But my reasoning mind was too far gone.

"How I cursed him when I fell into this pit, perhaps never to return. It has been millennia since that day, and my anger has cooled. The full effects of the End, however, have not. The Endermen planted within me a deep-seated hatred of everything my brother touched, and I have had trouble shaking it off. In fact, it took centuries to regain my personality alone. I had been robbed of my desire to build and create, and of my love of beauty. Only now have I regained these things, and now I am more fortified against the madness of the End."

I fought back a snort of disbelief.

"Fortified?!" I said incredulously, despite myself. "Tell me, if your evil comes from insanity, why did you destroy Diamond City? Why did you destroy the Temple village? _Why did you kill so many people?!"_ My hands trembled from pent-up anger. Herobrine glared at me momentarily, then his gaze softened and he smiled sadly. He looked at me in almost the same way the village priest had when I had given him my last farewells.

"Perhaps I do owe you an explanation," Herobrine said in a strange,... _un-_Herobrine way. Almost kindly. I shifted my weight, looking away. The way he said that made nearly all of my anger just drain away. It wasn't natural, the way he could manipulate my emotions like that, with just a simple gesture or change of tone.

"I have come to realize why my brother sent me here, of all places," Herobrine began. "It was the Endermen who caused me to go mad- he merely wanted me to be safe from the End just as he wanted the Overworld to be safe from me. While I was here, I was able to recover from my madness- to a point. When I first felt the portal opening again, I was both overjoyed and outraged. I was to be set free once more upon my beloved world, but first I wanted revenge on my brother. When I first came into the Overworld once again, I was confused that a Steve, rather than Notch, had released me. I simply let him be, closing the portal behind me.

"But only minutes later, I was found by the Endermen. They had been eagerly awaiting my re-arrival, for they were still filled with the desire to destroy the Steve race. I was quickly overtaken and driven mad again. That is how Diamond City came to burn. Your friend would not have known what was happening- it would have appeared to him as something different. What happened to him was most unfortunate.

"What happened to you was nearly as bad. When I recovered from my brief relapse at Diamond City, I hid from the Endermen for as long as I could, hoping to put into action the emergency plan I had created. The Endermen found me first. I was able to find you, and put in place the _Chronicles_ for you to find. Then I descended into insanity again, driven by the whims of the End."

I still was suspicious.

"What was this plan? How can I trust you?" I asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"I will not tell you everything," said Herobrine, "And you cannot trust me. But you will find that you have little choice. If you want to save the Overworld, I suggest you listen to me closely." His words chilled me to the bone. His voice had lowered again, dangerously, and I could feel his eyes drilling into me. I got that helpless feeling again. Defeated, I said,

"What do you want with me?"

Herobrine sat back in his throne and examined me with a less harsh gaze. For several long moments, we simply stayed as we were in silence. I stood before Herobrine fearfully, and Herobrine sat where he was, quietly pondering me. At last, he spoke.

"I would like to make a wager with you."

My hands, which were clasped behind my back, clenched into a hard knot. I carefully looked up at the seated figure, betraying both my anxiety and my curiosity.

"I cannot enter the Overworld again," Herobrine explained, "until the Endermen are dealt with. I suspected that this would be the case, so I made a plan for it. I remained in the Overworld for as long as I could, looking for a suitable candidate to be my eyes and ears. I found you. You, the only one who would act in the face of danger. You, who sought answers rather than safety. I ensured that the _Chronicles _fell into your hands to provide you with some of the answers you would need, and although you cannot yet read them, I gave you the journals of myself and my brother as well. Now you are here and ready."

I blinked. This was absolutely crazy. Herobrine wanted to use me as his tool. His puppet, even. But...Something made sense already. The fact that he had personally communicated with me before, mind-to-mind in the form of the illusion in the library. The fact that I had seen for myself evidence of the Endermen's control over him. What was I supposed to believe?

"What would you have me do?" I asked calmly, at last able to look Herobrine in the face again. He smiled.

"The terms of the wager are simple," Herobrine said, "Since I cannot control you, thanks to my brother, I will strike a deal with you. I want you to return to the Overworld and be my spy against the Endermen. Search for information regarding their change from peaceful to violent. You will find that at a point, they changed dramatically very quickly. I want to know why. When you are ready, go to the End. Then report to me within thirty days. If you do so, then I will do whatever you should ask, if I am able. If you would have me never set foot in the Overworld again, then I will do so."

I frowned. These were odd stakes.

"What if I refuse your deal, or fail to do as you ask?" I inquired suspiciously. Herobrine replied curtly.

"If you refuse, then I will simply keep you here until you accept. If you fail, then I cannot promise the safety of you or any other being in all of the Overworld." The threat was cold. "Will you accept my wager?"

I closed my eyes. The way his mood kept swinging, and his eyes kept hardening at me- he was still insane. Less than before, but still dangerous. I liked the idea of being his pawn very little. But then I thought, what if he was telling the whole truth? What if the Endermen were more dangerous than he was? That thought I liked even less. Opening my eyes, I said,

"I need time to think." My voice was barely more than a whisper. Herobrine's gaze sharpened, but he nodded. He clapped his hands twice, and the doors at the far end of the hall opened, allowing inside a squadron of zombie pigmen armored in gold.

"Return her to her cell," Herobrine ordered, then said to me, "I hope you come to make the right choice."

I was marched back out into the corridor.

* * *

I was told that three days passed between my two trips to the throne room. It was early on the second that I finally gained the courage to tell Dragon about the offer Herobrine had made me. When I finished explaining, he swore violently. We argued over it pointlessly for some time.

"You can't be thinking about accepting?!" Dragon exclaimed. I kicked the wall in frustration.

"I don't know!" I shouted, cutting off whatever Dragon was about to say next, then said in a softer voice, "I just don't know." I bowed my head, feeling guilty already about yelling at my best friend.

"He is insane, Huntress. He could double-cross you at any time." I mentally smacked Dragon for repeating this line for the thousandth time.

"I know," I said through clenched teeth. "But what choice do I have?" Dragon did pause before answering, this time.

"It doesn't matter what else," Dragon reasoned uselessly. "Anything but this. This is a deal with the devil himself."

"I _know!_" I said more forcefully. "But _what else can we do? _I really don't have a choice. He'll keep us here until I accept. Besides, what if he's right?" Dragon made an impatient noise from the other side of the wall, and then came up to the opening, giving me a look of genuine worry.

"I just can't trust him," Dragon said. "I don't like the idea of him using any of us, and I especially don't want him using you." I got quiet suddenly, my heart fluttering in a way that it rarely did. I hated it when Dragon said things like that. He'd been doing it a lot recently- it made me feel things that I didn't know how to interpret. Part of me wanted to run away. But part of me wanted more. I hated fighting with myself. Using my angry frustration as a shield against the confusion in my heart, I banged the wall with my fist.

"Don't make this any harder for me!" I broke out. My breathing was speeding up- I fought it back down to avoid going hysterical. By _Notch! _Why did _I _have to do this?!

"I don't like making decisions like these," I said shakily, giving Dragon a strained smile. "I _like _being on my own, where the only one I can get hurt is me. I'm _fine _with you being the leader. You can _deal _with that sort of stress. I can't. I hate making mistakes, and I especially hate making mistakes that hurt other people." I paused, closing my eyes against the tears that were coming unbidden to my eyes. Choking on a sob, I said,

"What do I do?" I turned away from the hole in the wall and sank down to a sitting position, my knees folded to my chest, and my head resting in my arms. I remember crying for myself for the first time in years that day, sobbing for all of the fear and pain and... everything. All the emotion that I had put away since all this had began, all the fear for myself and my things that I had ignored in the face of all the tragedy around me, it all came rushing in at once and overwhelmed me. I felt like a frightened child, helplessly being manipulated by forces of evil that I didn't fully understand. More than anything, I wanted to go home. Back to FireForge, where all my friends and I could come together to eat and laugh and forget that all this happened.

Reality hurts.

Eventually, I felt a hand touch my shoulder.

"Hey," Dragon said in a soft and soothing tone, acting like an older brother, "It'll be fine. Look at me." he pleaded gently. I looked up at him, clasping his hand in mine and accepting his aid in standing up. He slid his arm back through the hole in the wall until only his hand was passed through, still held tightly by me. I wiped my tears away using the inside of my other arm.

With a sigh, Dragon told me his advice.

"I think," he said slowly, "that it might be best if you accepted his offer. I still don't have to like it, but you're right," he grinned humorlessly, "What if he's right? No sense in losing our minds over this any longer. We never had a choice in the first place." I looked up to the ceiling to try and contain fresh tears as my heart squeezed from Dragon's gentle voice.

"Thank you," I whispered.

* * *

My escort of pigmen turned and left as Herobrine entered the throne room from a door behind the dais.

"You look refreshed," he commented as he came to the dais and seated himself on the sturdy black throne. "Have you come to a decision yet?"

I leveled my gaze with his, looking hard into his white eyes. I poured out all of my hatred for him in that look. I was beginning to understand this fallen god now. He was mad, but that was a poor excuse for what he had done. He had never given up his resentment for the Steve race or for his brother, even though the Steves responsible for his anger were now long gone. Underneath all of his power and his horror-filled past, right then I found him pathetic. He should have made this choice to repair the damage done a long, long time ago.

Unblinking, unwavering, I stood tall and spoke the two words that sealed my fate.

"I accept."


	5. Return

_I apologize ahead of time for all of the time skips and fragmented scenes. This chapter is a really tricky transition into another part of the story. Don't worry- It's only so I can work in all the details I need you guys to know. I hate fragmenting, but I had to put in a lot. Hope you don't mind._

PART FIVE: RETURN

The portal noise increased until it was at deafening levels, then ceased suddenly. With a jerk, sort of like a sudden stop, Dragon and I lurched forward, out of the portal and into the cool air of the Overworld. Overbalanced, we tumbled onto the grass. We were home.

On the horizon, the sun was beginning to set the sky aflame as it sank down into the west. Dragon, who had been grasping onto me as we traveled through the portal, released my hand as he staggered upright on the grassy slope. I pushed myself up into a sitting position, leaning back on my hands and simply feeling the breeze- something I missed sorely in the Nether.

Dragon held out a hand; I accepted his help to stand. Still dizzy from the trip, I had a little trouble with my balance as well. We leaned on each other, catching our breath.

"We made it," Dragon said breathlessly. I smiled at him when he looked at me, and I was sure that I would never fathom the relief I could see clearly written on his face. All this time that I had been chasing ancient ruins and old books, Dragon had been imprisoned in the Nether. Who knew what had been done to him there.

A rumble rolled down the hill. Looking back, Dragon and I watched as the bright whorls of the portal fell still and faded into oblivion. All that remained was the frame of purplish black obsidian. Checking the position of the sun, I asked Dragon,

"Got a plan? I'd rather not be spider fodder before we get to safety." The sun was sinking rapidly, and all we had between us for weaponry was my enchanted diamond blade, _Firefall. _Herobrine had refused to return to me all of my other things.

"Won't I need gear?" I had asked him as we traveled through the fortress, back in the Nether. Herobrine looked at me slightly impatiently.

"Indeed you will," he answered, not breaking stride, "But your old armor simply will not do. Your sword is sufficient, but I will provide you with better armor." We reached a room locked with iron doors, which Herobrine opened with a wave of his hand.

"What armor?" I muttered under my breath, as we entered the room. The room was totally bare except for a single table, on which rested a single rather familiar blue sword.

Herobrine met my gaze, and I remembered my place and held my tongue.

"The Endermen are not fools, Huntress," he said coolly. "If I simply release you and your friend with all of your possessions, they will catch you and question you to find my motives. That will not do at all. Instead, I will make it appear that you have managed to escape me. I will tell you where to find better armor in the Overworld."

So, here we were, Dragon and I both, standing in the Overworld at dusk with only one sword. I got a feeling of uneasy nostalgia.

Dragon, apparently, was not so uneasy. He looked around, and gave me a wide grin when he spotted several zombies rising out of the forest dirt. I rolled my eyes. _His _first few nights in the world hadn't been so terrifying as _mine. He _was the one who figured out how to make weapons first.

"Just like old times?" Dragon offered, making a wide gesture to the falling night. Slowly, a grin spread across my face as well. Dragon's optimism was always contagious for the rest of us. Hefting _Firefall _to one shoulder, I cocked my head towards the forest and thought of this as just another wild adventure. For now, I was allowed to pretend that everything was normal again.

"Just like old times," I replied.

We charged off into the night.

* * *

With only one diamond sword between the two of us, we did surprisingly well. Dragon and I were traveling towards the Temple of Notch, where Herobrine had promised we would find the gear we needed, but first we had to get there. And from where the portal had dumped us, we had miles of bushwhacking to go. So, for six days, we fought and crafted and moved on eagerly towards our goal. Just like old times, indeed.

On the first night, after fighting off the first wave of monsters, we decided to make a temporary base where we could rest. We took down a few trees and barricaded ourselves in, grateful for the relief. We were both exhausted from the events in the Nether, so we both slept hard despite the cold ground. The next few nights, after we had recovered, were more fun. Dragon and I would compete to see who could kill the most spiders, or creepers, or who could lure the most mobs into a deep pit, or whatever. For the first time in months, I didn't take a single fight seriously. I have to admit, it was fun.

On the fifth night, Dragon and I took shelter just inside a shallow cave that we had blocked up from any outside mobs. We were worn out again, and very hungry, so we called it a night and were hunkering down by a warm fire, cooking a few raw steaks. Dragon leaned against one wall with _Firefall _resting against his shoulder, gazing into the flames. I was laying on the floor opposite to him, with my knees drawn up and one leg crossed over the other. I was swinging my leg to no particular rhythm, lazily checking on the steaks from time to time.

"We're almost there, you know," Dragon said. I raised myself on one elbow to turn one of the steaks over.

"I know," I replied. "I've been through this territory. I'll show you the lake that the Endermen dropped me in when we pass that way." I had already told Dragon about my little skirmish with the Endermen and the battle with Herobrine.

"What is he planning to do with us, anyway?" Dragon asked, clearly meaning Herobrine. I uncrossed my legs to sit up, removing the steaks from the fire and handing a couple to Dragon. He took his with a nod of thanks.

"He wants me to gather information," I said. "about the Endermen. They're not his creations, you know, and he wants to know why they became the hostile beings that they are." Dragon shifted.

"This seems too easy," he commented as he tore off a chunk of meat with his teeth, his voice slightly sour. I looked up at him.

"It won't be easy," I said darkly. "There are places Herobrine wants me to go. Places no Steve has ever gone. I'll explain when we get to the Temple."

We finished eating in silence. Dragon would glance at me from time to time, but I avoided his eyes. Eventually, we both finished and lay down to sleep, allowing the fire to fall to glowing embers. The floor was rocky and uncomfortable, but at last, my mind fell silent and the blackness of sleep stole over me.

* * *

Herobrine had smiled in a way that I couldn't interpret when I accepted his wager. He stood from his throne, descending the dais until he was level with me. Raising his chin, he looked deeply into my eyes with a critical look.

"You are certain?" he had asked. I nodded in reply, maintaining my icy glare. Herobrine suddenly transformed, going from a powerful god to a very desperate man. He breathed a sigh of relief, putting a hand on my shoulder. I looked away from him, eyes wide and blinking. He never ceased to surprise me at the worst of times.

"Thank you," Herobrine said softly. I met his gaze again and immediately looked away. His eyes had a look of haunted sadness in them- the sort of look that would tear my heart in two if I let him catch me in it.

"Now," Herobrine said curtly, moving in a businesslike manner out of the throne room, "It is time you learned a few more details before you go. I'll not send you off unprepared." I walked just behind him, glancing warily at the castle guard while following Herobrine into a barred-off room.

The sight had caught me unprepared. Inside the room were several different displayed items made of foreign materials and decorated with strange runes. But what really caught me off guard was the Enderman-sized glass case standing upright against the back wall. An Enderman hovered inside, floating a mostly-transparent fluid with a violet hue. Definitely not water- it was probably some sort of healing fluid. Its eyes were closed, but I could see that it still breathed. Herobrine put a reverent hand against the glass.

"This is not the first time I have tried to find answers, Huntress," he said, looking at me. "This is one of my oldest friends, whose name I cannot tell you. He was the one who once came to me in the same way I came to you, mind-to-mind contact, and told me that I was in danger. Then he vanished. It was only just before the Ender War." He seemed to slump against the glass. I shifted, wondering what he was getting at.

"I found him while I was running from the Endermen, dying on the slopes of a mountain, halfway immersed in a pool of water and unable to return to the end to heal. His people intended for him to die there for betraying them and trying to warn me." Herobrine's hand formed a fist on the glass. He raised himself and turned to face me.

"I made this wager to find what evil would cause the Endermen to betray one of their own and ensnare me in their plots. I have few memories of the Ender war remaining. I can no longer remember what they did to drive me insane." He gave me a humorless half-grin. "I cannot even remember how I transported you here."

That shook me. The End could wipe his memories? Ouch. Amnesia was bad enough when it wasn't compounded with insanity.

"Within thirty days, I want you to scour the Overworld of anything you find unusual. Then I want you to travel to the End, and report your findings back to me. I will await your return." Herobrine said. Then he picked up an object from a pedestal- it looked like a magenta cube suspended in a wire frame with several runes across its surface.

"This," Herobrine explained, "Is an energy crystal of the End. Usually, the Endermen keep these contained in domes of obsidian so that they can harness their power safely. The raw energy from an active crystal is highly unstable and very dangerous. And this," he pointed to a scroll on the wall, "Is the normal set of runes that the Endermen use. I have noticed several changes in their script as of late, including a sign that I will show you when you return to the Overworld. For now," he put down the crystal and opened the door, "Come with me." I remained silent and followed Herobrine into another room.

"There is one thing that you need to be aware of." said Herobrine. "Since you have been slain twice with a curse sword, you should be aware of a residual effect that is taking place within you." He stopped in the hallway and produced his black obsidian sword. I took an involuntary step backwards. Herobrine gave me his disarming, oh-don't-you-worry look and flipped the sword, offering me the hilt over his wrist.

"Take it, and look into the blade." Reluctantly, I closed my fingers around the hilt, lifting the heavy sword upright. The blade was highly polished and reflected light like a mirror. I looked at myself blandly, wondering what this had to do with anything, then suddenly shrieked and reflexively dropped the blade. My face in the mirrored sword looked normal, with the plain Steve features of long dark hair, a straight nose, and a full lower lip.

But my eyes were dead white.

When the sword clattered from my grasp, I continued to watch my reflection, and saw my eyes fade back to their bright Steve periwinkle-blue. I glared at Herobrine with both resentment and fear, not knowing what to think. Herobrine retrieved his sword from the brick floor.

"Your eyes will now change when you are exposed to End energy. My sword has a small amount bound to it- it is enough to cause the change when you touch it." Herobrine's voice held no emotion as he put away his sword. Then he said in a more soothing tone, "If nothing else like this happens to you, the effect will fade. Until then, you will find it useful."

"Useful?" I choked. Herobrine gestured for me to continue following him down the hall.

"Indeed," he answered. "Endermen are constantly emitting energy of their own- if they come near, your eyes will change. This will alert your companion of the danger."

I stopped dead in my tracks.

"Companion?" I asked softly. Herobrine stopped and turned to regard me.

"Of course," he said. "You will be on a dangerous mission- one that I need done. You will be traveling to the End, and you will not be going alone." My eyes widened.

"I will release Dragon to accompany you."

* * *

In the morning of the sixth day, the mountain was in sight. But when we came over the rise, Dragon stopped short. I turned to look at him quizzically.

"I...I didn't realize the destruction was this bad," Dragon breathed. Then he looked at me with a dangerous gleam in his eyes, one that I rarely ever saw. I think it was hatred.

"How can you trust him?" he asked darkly. "How can you be sure he will keep his deal?" My eyes narrowed.

"I can't," I answered simply. "He cannot be trusted. We already know that."

"But how could you want to help this-" Dragon struggled to find the right word, "-this _monster?_" I sighed, closing my eyes for a moment.

"Listen," I said firmly, "I don't want to _help _him as much as I just don't want things like this," I gestured to the village ruins, "to happen again." Dragon looked at me incredulously.

"Herobrine is desperate," I said bitterly. "Very desperate. He only made this wager with me because he can't do this himself." I turned away from Dragon, setting off towards the Temple mountain again.

"I'll finish explaining inside the Temple," I called back. Dragon shrugged and followed. He would understand.

* * *

We reached the Temple of Notch safely. Dragon, although still wary of the wager, seemed to still trust me, and as we entered the Temple sanctuary and approached the altar, he handed _Firefall _back to me.

"Let's find out whether or not he told you the truth," Dragon said, examining the heavy diamond altar blocks at the rear of the room. Herobrine had said that the armor we needed was hidden below the altar. I circled the piece, looking for any signs of any movable parts. Dragon found it first.

"Here-" he said from behind the altar as a click emanated from where he knelt. I jumped back in surprise when the whole left side of the altar dropped down to reveal a ladder descending downwards. I swallowed as Dragon and I exchanged glances, then nodded and started down the ladder, putting away my sword.

The ladder was short, and it opened up to a small chamber with several racks of armor, all with swords and bows. All were made of diamond with powerful enchantments.

I rested a hand on the breastplate of one of the suits, watching as the magic of the enchantments lazily glimmered and moved across its surface in a pale hued light.

Dragon landed on the ground next to me, and I watched his eyes widen at the objects stored in the chamber. I smiled at him.

"Shall we try it on?" I asked.

* * *

More changes happened. Dragon and I separated for the time being so that he could ride off to find and gather the rest of the Steves. I was left alone in the great Temple of Notch. Good. I had something I needed to do privately.

I wasn't wearing my armor at the moment. In my hands, I held a small, rectangular package wrapped in fabric. Footsteps echoing in the cavernous space, I made my way towards the altar, setting the wrapped parcel down on the smooth surface.

After retrieving the armor from the hidden chamber, I had put back in place the missing side of the altar and polished its surfaces until the diamond shone like mirrors. A sunbeam from the skylight above gazed down, scattering reflected light across the smooth floor. I broke the seal holding the fabric wrapping on and lifted the _Book of Herobrine _from the altar, flipping to the last few pages. They appeared to be blank, but Herobrine had told me about them.

"Wait, Huntress," Herobrine had called just as I was turning to leave by the path he had marked. I turned to face him, _Firefall _in hand. Herobrine came to me and pressed something into my hand. I looked down at the cloth-wrapped package curiously.

"This is my _Book. _You will need it for the information recorded inside. I have written the rune I want you to look out for in its pages. And, there is one more thing I want you to do. This is a favor- you are not obligated to do so."

I looked up at Herobrine- he was giving me that look of masked sadness again. An ancient sadness. I swallowed.

"The last pages in this book are written in your language," Herobrine explained. "But you will only be able to read them by the light of the beacon, my brother's sacred light. This is my plea to my brother. I ask that you serve as my messenger and take this message to him at the Temple. Simply activate the beacon light and read what I have written. Will you do this?" His voice was pleading.

I nodded slowly.

"I will."

Moving behind the altar, I found the lever for the beacon, which was up on its diamond pyramid above and behind the altar. I flipped the switch, causing a blinding light to wash over the entire sanctuary. Then the light condensed into a single beam that shot skyward through the skylight and into the clouds. Everything around me took on a soft glow from the beacon. I went back down to the altar.

The _Book of Herobrine _also glowed softly, and there were words on the pages now, shimmering in dark blue. Taking up the book, I dropped to one knee before the altar as if I were simply here to pray, and began to read aloud.

_"Day thirty-five of the year ten thousand, one hundred and eighty-seven since my Descent. Seventy-five days since the reopening of the Nether. From the pen of Herobrine, delivered by Steve messenger._

_To my Brother Notch-  
Greetings and blessings. It has been long since we have spoken to one another, and I mourn our separation each passing day. If only I could speak with you once again in safety! But I now know that the danger for me is too great, and I cannot leave the Nether.  
_

_"I have never been able to explain my actions against the Overworld to you, and I have come to realize, nor can I explain them to myself. I now understand that there is no excuse for my actions, not even the madness I was inflicted by. I let my anger drive me, and my hatred drive me further, worsening the madness until I nearly came to the point of no return. You saved me from this, brother. I understand that now._

_"I remember the beginning of the Ender War clearly, with all of my anger still hot towards the Steves. I remember how you refused to aid me in punishing them. You wanted my anger to cool, and for me to be more patient. I was a fool not to listen. Truly, I still had yet to gain the wisdom I would need to rule over a race. You wanted me to gain it for myself, didn't you?_

_"But something happened, Notch. Something that I still am unable to remember. I need your help again. I am sending this Steve named Huntress to find answers regarding the hostility that has come over the race of the End. They have changed, and I must know why. Protect this Steve. Keep her safe from the power that drove me to insanity, and if need be, defend her from me. _

_"I am on the brink of recovery, but it is not enough. I will forever be scarred by what has been done to me, and by what I have done. I beg you, brother, return to the Overworld to set things right. I want nothing more than to see my people once more at peace. Perhaps then I will become fully healed of this sickness of the mind. _

_"Above all, brother, I need your healing upon me. I have done a great evil upon our greatest creation. For that, I am truly sorry. I beg your forgiveness, and I will accept whatever punishment you offer for what I have done. I cannot leave the Nether, but perhaps we may see one another again. By our combined power, let things be set right again. I need you, Notch. Now more than ever._

_-Herobrine."_

I shut the book and closed my eyes. They burned with that prickling sensation you get when you want to cry but can't. Herobrine had only just written this the day before he released me from the Nether. It was written in a way that was stiffly formal, but I knew how desperate he was, and how he tried to hide it.

Blast Herobrine and his fickle nature. Blast _my _fickle feelings! Only days ago, I hated his guts. Now I was feeling _sorry _for him. Really sorry. Blast it all.

"Please, Notch," I whispered into the light of the beacon, "Help him." I blinked my eyes to fight back the tears for good.

I decided later that I wouldn't hate Herobrine after all. I was beginning to truly believe him, maybe even trust him. Suddenly, the wager wasn't such a bad thing.

* * *

"We saw the beacon go up," Dragon announced as he walked in, startling me from where I was dozing. "Praying?"

I nodded and sat up slowly from my pallet, running a hand through my hair to smooth out the snarls. Still only half-awake, I was unprepared for Dawn's sudden attack.

"Huntress!" she shouted as she slammed into me, hugging me tight enough to choke. Regaining my balance, I returned the embrace with equal vigor, suddenly realizing how much I had missed her and the rest of my friends.

"Good to see you, too, Dawn," I said softly, half choked by tears I struggled to hold back. Rose joined the hug, being a little gentler than the energetic Dawn and refraining from crushing the life out of me.

Lee and Sky also gave hugs in the more masculine way, but Wolf stayed off to the side, a serious look on his face. He gave me a nod in greeting, and nothing more.

I looked over each of my friends, reflecting on how much each of them had changed. As Steves, we all looked roughly the same, with the same blue eyes and brown hair, although we always could tell each other apart. But the ordeal had taken its toll on all of us. Every one of us had lost weight, and our skin had gotten much lighter and more tallow, and our hair was darker. I guessed that none of us had gotten much sun recently. But there were other changes as well.

Dawn, for all her explosive energy, was less cheerful than usual. Wolf, who was always stoic and taciturn, was now downright sullen. Dragon had lost much of that playful twinkle in his eye, and Lee was less confident than he usually seemed. The past months had been hard on all of us.

For a moment we all just stood together in silence, relieved that we were all still alive and well. Then Sky spoke up.

"So," he said, leaning casually on the wall and slouching into an easy posture, "What has everyone been up to?"

* * *

I stood up from the table I had been sitting at and stretched my back. Earlier, while everyone had been swapping stories, I had escaped into this small room on the lower floors of the Temple complex. Sky had protested, but I used the excuse that I needed to rest and promised to explain everything later over a meal or something. Then I came to study _The Book of Herobrine, _to see what information I could glean.

The book was resting open to a page charged with End energy. I looked at it with distaste. It was giving me nothing more than a headache, and judging from the amount of energy the page was glowing with, no doubt my eyes were shining white as snow.

The rune was there, marked in a dark ink that sparkled with purple energy. The symbol was an elaborate insignia of a stylized eye surrounded by tightly twisting runes like scales. I wondered what it could mean, but I was unable to find it anywhere else in any of the other books I had brought up from the Great Library. This symbol had no other copy in the entire Overworld.

The door opened behind me. I reflexively turned, then realized my mistake. Dragon shouted from surprise and started to draw his sword. Thinking fast, I snatched up the _Book of Herobrine_ and shut it, then jumped up onto the table as Dragon swung, narrowly missing me.

"Hold, Dragon!" I exclaimed, my voice hitting a pitch that I had never reached before. Dragon froze, his eyes widening as he realized who I really was. Shocked, he lowered his blade.

"My eyes change, remember?" I tried to say humorously, "I already told you about it." My voice was shaking. As I quickly realized, so were my hands. Dragon had really scared me this time. And I'm pretty sure that I scared him, too. He had not yet seen me with white eyes.

"By Notch, I am so sorry..." Dragon began, deeply shaken that he had mistaken me for Herobrine so easily. I stopped him.

"Listen, it's fine..." I tried to say.

"No." snapped Dragon, "No, it isn't. I could have killed you."

"Dragon." My tone quieted him. "Forget about it. It was a mistake. Anyone could have made it. You won't do it again. I trust you."

Dragon slumped slightly and nodded, sheathing his sword. I jumped down off the table, gently squeezing his shoulder.

"We'll be all right," I said, smiling sadly. Dragon shook his head and suddenly caught me in a hug, holding me closely. I was too surprised to pull away.

"You don't understand how I feel about you," Dragon murmured into my ear as he put a hand to my head. "I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I ever hurt you." My heart did that fluttering again.

Treacherous heart.

That's when I pulled back a little, enough to look Dragon in the face. He had a strange light behind his determined blue eyes that I had only seen a few times before, such as in the Nether. I never fully understood what it meant.

"Where did all this suddenly come from?" I asked, brows furrowing. I suddenly couldn't meet Dragon's gaze.

"I've always felt this way. It just took me literally going to Hell to say it."

His arms released my head and waist, and he turned and left, closing the door softly behind him.

I sank back down into my chair.

Quietly, I told my heart to quit pounding and feeling all these confusing emotions.

* * *

Lee and Sky, the inseparable two, had found and prepared one of the downstairs dining rooms for our use. Dinner was ready, but I was too absorbed in my work in my little study to notice the delicious smells. Dawn's knock on the door alerted me that it was time to eat.

"You okay?" she asked as I stood up from the table, the _Book of Herobrine _put away. I cocked my head at her with a questioning look, and she elaborated. "You look terrible."

I grinned mirthlessly.

"I haven't slept properly for days," I said, walking past her and out the door. Dawn led me down to the dining hall, and we took our seats among everyone else at a round table. We all started eating.

I sipped my drink, reflecting that this was the first time all of us had been together for a meal in half a year. We should have been happy. Instead, I caught a general vibe of tension from everyone. We ate for a while without speaking, then Wolf broke the silence.

"Where were you?" he snapped suddenly. My eyes locked on his with a hard look, and I put down my glass.

"In a private room, reading." I said in return. Wolf scowled.

"I meant when Herobrine first came. Where were you all of this time? Dragon said you weren't hiding," he growled at me, his voice dropping to the lower register in the way he did when he was angry. My stare did not waver.

"I wasn't hiding. But what does that mean to you?" I said, my voice flinty.

"I-..." Wolf had trouble responding. "I want to know what you were doing."

"Looking for answers," I retorted. Wolf, when he got mad or suspicious, was a tough nut to argue with. Wolf's expression grew exasperated, but he was unable to keep looking me in the eye.

"Answers?" he asked, clearly suspecting me, "Answers to what? Herobrine is loose on the world, destroying everything-" I cut him off.

"He's not in the Overworld right now. He's back in the Nether." That was the wrong thing to say to Wolf right then.

"Not in the- How do you know this?!" Wolf cried, jumping to his feet. Dragon, apparently, was fed up.

"SIT DOWN!" he roared at Wolf. "You have no idea what she has been through! Let her explain!" Wolf sat down.

"I thought it was our job to find monsters and kill them," Wolf muttered, cowed. "Herobrine's a monster so we kill-"

Now I was fed up.

"We can't kill him!" I said, deliberately raising my voice. "I've tried already. _Twice. _And instead, he killed me. TWICE!" I stood up suddenly, glaring daggers at Wolf with all my rage. He seemed to shrink back in his seat. I wasn't done.

"I was the one risking life and limb to find some solution to this whole mess! This is no one's fault, so don't even think about pinning the blame on anyone. And don't you dare accuse me of _anything. I_ was the one fighting Herobrine all this time. _I _was the one going from one end of the world to the other to find out how to beat him. _I _was the one who _went to the Nether and saved Dragon! _Now tell me what your problem is!"

Wolf remained silent. My rage mounted.

"TELL ME!-" I began to shout, then stopped suddenly and doubled over as an agony seized my chest. Right. This was one of the residual effects of the wounds Herobrine had inflicted- the wound would flare up whenever I got really mad or upset. Rose, who was sitting next to me, stood up and tried to help me, but I gently pushed her away. With a grunt, I stood upright again, clutching my chest with one hand.

I looked each of my friends in the eye in turn, seeing the tension or surprise on each face at my outburst. I was the one who never got mad, never cried, and never gave up. It was rare that they had to see me like this. Slowly, painfully, I sank back down into my seat and took a deliberate sip from my water glass. Taking a deep breath, I tried to make my anger flow out with my breath. I used this trick a lot, although usually it was to keep from getting mad in the first place. The agony in my chest eased a little.

Wolf, after being shouted at by both myself and Dragon, the two most senior Steves in the Overworld, glanced at me, then at his plate.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled under his breath. I nodded, suddenly feeling exhausted all over again. With everything that was going on, all my strength seemed to have flowed away, leaving me an empty, brittle husk.

Rose reached over and refilled my glass from the pitcher. I nodded my thanks, taking tiny spoonfuls of some mushroom soup.

"What were you up to?" Rose asked softly in that gentle, musical voice of hers. "You must have something to tell us about." I swirled my water in my glass, abandoning the rest of my food, my appetite gone with my outrage.

"The first thing I did after we split up was go off to Ember..." I began.

* * *

We were all seated by the fireplace inside the common room below the Temple. I had told my tale, going as far as telling them of what I'd found in the _Chronicles _to back up my story. Wolf narrowed his eyes when I spoke of seeing the Endermen with Herobrine back at the Steve city, but he said nothing.

At last, I had finished explaining all that had transpired since the destruction of Diamond city and everything I had learned about Herobrine. I got plenty of suspicious looks, but Dawn and Dragon nodded their understanding when I finished. But then I watched as everyone's eyes widened at me in horror. Confused, I looked around.

"Your eyes, " Dawn breathed. I looked at her, startled, and then realized what it meant.

"Endermen!" I exclaimed, leaping to my feet and drawing _Firefall, _suddenly very glad for the diamond armor I wore. The first tall, dark creature teleported into the room-.

-Only to be cut down by Dragon. I blinked. I hadn't even seen him move from where he was sitting. Shaking my head, I hurried over to the doorway. Dragon never ceased to surprise me, for all that I already knew he was the best fighter as well as most senior.

Four more Endermen awaited me in the hall. Three of them prepared to attack. The fourth teleported further down the hall, clearly fleeing. I wasn't about to let it get away. Taking off down the hall after it, I shouted,

"Dibs on the runner!" By some miracle, I caught up to it just in time. I caught the creature in a bear hug right when it teleported away. For a moment, everything was exploding with purple sparks, and then it all fell black. A split second later, we touched down on the ground in the middle of the Temple village ruins, my added weight forcing the Enderman to its knees.

To my amazement and horror, the Enderman turned its head _all the way around _to face me and begin its ear-rattling war cry. Shocked, I accidentally loosened my grip, and it was able to throw me off and escape. The wind was knocked out of me as I flew up into the air and fell flat on my back. I had no idea that Endermen were so flexible. But then the Enderman teleported off into the distance.

"Oh, no you don't," I muttered, scrambling to my feet and chasing after the violet-eyed being.

When I had the creature in view again, I stopped running madly and hid myself behind a corner. It had started walking rather than teleporting, and was moving purposefully towards something on the other end of the ruins. I snuck after it down the uneven street, until we came to a brightly illuminated square.

I peeked around the remains of a house and saw, to my amazement, the bright star-filled portal blocks of an End Portal. A new one. I gasped when I saw it, but unfortunately, the Enderman heard me. His head whipped around to regard me, who was too stupefied to act. Then it flew towards the portal. Realizing I had not a moment to lose, I chased after it desperately, _Firefall _out and ready.

Just my luck, the Enderman made it there first. It stepped onto the portal and vanished, leaving me to skid to a stop and wheel my arms in a frantic attempt to save myself from falling in. Regaining my balance, I took a long step backwards away from the portal and thanked my lucky stars that I hadn't tumbled in. I sheathed _Firefall._

Slightly miffed that I hadn't managed to catch my quarry, I knelt down at the edge of the portal and studied it more carefully. It was definitely brand new- Dragon and I had come through here on our way to the Temple of Notch. But how did it get here? Herobrine certainly didn't make it- and I thought he was the only one who could.

Something caught my eye on the outside rim of the circular portal. A symbol, etched deep into the frame underneath the Eye of Ender slots. A wide, stylized eye, decorated with tiny, twisting runes like scales. The rune from the _Book of Herobrine _was here on the portal.

Something occurred to me suddenly. There was a Stronghold near the Temple of Herobrine- I had already seen it and was pretty sure that this rune was not on it. Wasn't it? I decided to go check.

Minutes later, I was on the staircase leading down to the Stronghold. Cautiously, I descended the stairs until the portal was right below my feet. Running my hands along the outer rim, I found that the entire thing was smooth and free of markings. The rune was not present on this ancient portal, but it was on the new one. Straightening, I left the Stronghold, wondering what it all meant.

* * *

Immediately after the battle, I trudged back to the Temple, claimed a bed, and slept hard. For the first time since I had stayed at Ember, I slept through the night both warm and comfortable in bed. When I finally awakened, I was reluctant to get up, even with the mid-morning sun streaming through the window. Then Dragon knocked on the door.

"It's open," I called, then watched as my oldest friend came in and leaned on the door frame, still in full armor.

"Where'd you go last night?" Dragon asked. Still bleary with sleep, I gave him a blank stare.

"You went after that runner when the Endermen appeared and didn't come back for an hour. By the time you came back in, we were all too tired to be curious." Dragon shifted so he could be more comfortable. With a huge yawn, I rolled over and sat up on the bed, hanging my legs over the edge and rubbing my eyes. The wall clock said it was getting close to noon, somewhere around ten or eleven in the morning. I took one look at Dragon's face and sighed. I had some explaining to do.

"First of all," I said, "You know how it is fighting Endermen." Dragon nodded knowingly.

"That we do," he said offhandedly, gesturing for me to continue.

"The Enderman got away," I kept explaining, "But he lead me to something. There's a new End portal in the village ruins, and it has a rune on it that Herobrine told me to watch for. I took so long in coming back because I went down to see if the sign was also on the old portal in the Stronghold. It wasn't." Dragon looked shocked.

"A portal in the village..." he mused, thinking to himself. Suddenly, he gave me a hard look.

"You're not thinking what I'm thinking you are, are you?" he said suspiciously. I gave him an annoyed look.

"I don't know what you think I'm thinking," I retorted, "But I'm thinking that it's time to go to the End to investigate."

Slowly, Dragon nodded.

"You're right."

I stood up from the bed, stretching my limbs out and putting on my armor, mentally reviewing the things that I might need for a trip to the other dimension.

"To the End?" I asked Dragon. He nodded, clasping my armored hand in his.

"To the End."


	6. Revelations

PART SIX: REVELATIONS

Dragon gathered everyone in the Common while I paced around my room, going over and over what I was going to do when we entered the End. It was a nerve-wracking notion- I didn't enjoy my last trip into an unknown dimension, and now we were going to the probable source of the worst enemy the Overworld had ever seen. We would travel to the End, and hopefully find all of the answers we needed to solve this whole mess.

Eventually, I decided that we would not take a large company to the End. Instead, I would go with two others: Dragon, and one other. I would have Dragon do the talking as well. Gathering up the things I laid out for the trip, I went off to the common room.

Everyone was lounging about when I walked in, fully packed and ready to go. Dawn sat with Rose at a small table, chatting. They barely looked up when I entered. Wolf, Lee, and Sky were standing at different intervals around the room, carelessly examining the paintings and things displayed on the walls. Dragon sat alone by the fire, leafing through a book. When he glanced up and saw me in the doorway, he shut the book and beckoned me over.

"Finished preparing?" he asked. I nodded, seating myself next to Dragon in an unoccupied cushioned chair. "What's your plan?" He bent forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

"We take only a party of three to the End," I said softly, glancing around quickly to ensure that no one else was listening. "The other four staying here- I need you to tell them a good excuse for not bringing them along. We take the portal in the old Stronghold I told you about." Dragon nodded, and lowered his voice as well.

"What do you plan on doing once we reach the End?" I shifted in my seat. There wasn't really much planning we could do, considering how little I knew of the End. Herobrine had, however, let me know what changes to look out for and what the End was supposed to look like.

"We look for certain things," I answered, "like any markings or runes that aren't supposed to be there. I'll show you when we're about to go in." Dragon nodded again trustingly.

"So," he said, "Who else are we taking?"

"Dawn," I answered. Dragon smiled, getting to his feet. He walked over to where Dawn was sitting, and when she glanced up, he whispered a few words in her ear. Dawn gave him an odd look, then glanced at Rose, then me, and then got up and left the room. Dragon straightened and returned to the fireplace, standing with his back to the mantel.

"All right, everyone, one moment please," Dragon called out, raising his voice so everyone could hear. My other friends fell silent, looking up at Dragon. "Over here, please." Wolf, Lee, and Sky exchanged glances, then came over to the fireplace to sit, looking at Dragon expectantly. Dragon remained standing where he was, with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I have some news for you all," he began in his leaderly tone. "Huntress has brought something to my attention that I would like to investigate. I will be going with her and Dawn for some time, and I need you to hold the fort while I'm gone."

Wolf gave me a dirty, _this is about Herobrine again you traitor, _look. I glared right back at him, undaunted. He knew my wager terms! Why was he acting like this?

"What's this you need to...investigate?" Wolf asked Dragon. My glare went downright withering. Had he forgotten that we were his _friends? _Something about Wolf was really off. Then I dismissed the thought. We would have time to work this out later. Right now, my time for the wager was running out. I had ten days left to report back to Herobrine. Dragon regarded Wolf with a look almost as hard as mine.

"This is something that has to do with the wager we have made. There are things we need to know, and finding them will be dangerous." Wolf was not satisfied.

"If it's dangerous, wouldn't it be better if we all came?" Wolf asked. Dragon shook his head.

"We would attract too much attention. Besides, what if Herobrine doesn't keep his word? I need you four to stay here for that possibility." Dragon said, uncrossing his arms to gesture to Wolf, Rose, Sky and Lee. Wolf seemed to relax. Apparently to him, it was easier to think of Herobrine as an enemy. I knew him well enough that he preferred a world where there was only obvious good and obvious evil. He didn't like all of this grey space in between, like the wager I had made in the Nether. I mentally applauded Dragon.

"So, Sky, I'm putting you in charge," Dragon said, looking to Sky, who nodded. "Be ready for us when we come back. I don't know how long we'll be away. Understood?" Everyone gave their nods or grunts of acknowledgment. Dragon's smile looked more than a little relieved.

"Let's go," he said, directly addressing me as he walked out the door. I stood from my seat and followed him from the room.

"Any special gear I might need?" Dragon asked. "I know to bring the basic exploration kit, but we are going into a hostile dimension." I shook my head.

"If anything," I answered, "Just bring extra blocks and torches. Maybe a few redstone ones, in case we need light and don't want to be seen." Dragon nodded, picking up his stride. He turned to go down another corridor, but stopped and turned to face me again.

"We meet in the Temple sanctuary?" he asked. I nodded. Then I gave him a little shove off in the direction of his room.

"Now go get packed."

* * *

As was planned, Dragon and Dawn met me in the Temple sanctuary a few minutes later. I showed them the stairway down into the underground complex, and off we went into the darkness, torches in hand.

Dawn and Dragon walked with me mostly in silence as we approached the Stronghold. Dawn, because she was too busy gaping at all of the ancient wonders of the buried temple complex. Dragon because, well, he was trying to hide the fact that he was gaping at the temple as well.

"I didn't even know all this was down here!" Dawn said softly as she looked up at the ornate golden gate that led to Herobrine's ancient complex. I grinned back at her as we passed through the gate.

When we reached the Stronghold, I stopped my friends and sat them down just beyond the landing of the stairs. I produced the Book of Herobrine, sitting down with them and opening it to the page I needed. The rune. I felt the ever so slight sensation of my eyes changing color- I had begun to recognize what it felt like.

"This one of the markings you were talking about earlier?" Dragon asked. I nodded.

"This rune was specifically shown to me by Herobrine as something to watch for. He wants to know what it means- It has to be linked to whatever made him go mad, and the Endermen so hostile." I left the book open on the ground, so my companions could memorize the sign written on its pages.

"Also," I continued, "There are landmarks we need to know about. According to Herobrine, the End is very low in natural resources. There are only two natural minerals found in large amounts- obsidian, and what is known as End stone. The Endermen usually live in underground structures carved into the stone, and the End is powered by crystals containing large amounts of energy. Usually, these are found inside domes or spheres of obsidian. Beyond that, I can't say much." Dragon looked up at me.

"What's the plan once we get there?" he asked. I met his eyes.

"We look for anything out of the ordinary. Destroyed structures, exposed crystals, and this rune," I answered, tapping a finger to the page. Dawn got to her feet.

"So, that's all we need to do? Doesn't sound too hard." she said, turning to the stairs.

"Hang on, Dawn. One last thing," I stood as well, and pulled out three command blocks- another little surprise found under the altar. Handing one to each of my friends, I said, "We're going to the place where Herobrine was tortured to insanity. The goal is simple, but don't think for one moment that the mission will be as well. If either of you get into trouble, use these to teleport home. I have already pre-set them for you to keep your things- you'll have to activate the teleportation. And if I tell you to teleport home, don't ask. Just do it. I won't tell you unless we have what we need. Got it?" Dawn and Dragon nodded solemnly.

Dawn, the Dawn that I trust with all of my heart and adore as my closest female friend, smiled suddenly and tossed her command block in the air before putting it away in her inventory.

"Any more details?" she asked, giving me a mock baleful look. I, surprised by her sudden cheerfulness, shook my head. Oh, Dawn, what would I do without you?

"Alright, then, let's go!" I couldn't help but grin as she impatiently waited for us at the bottom of the stairs before the portal. Together, we stepped into the starry depths, to face the mystery head-on.

* * *

I had the sensation of being pulled and then snapped like a rubber band into the air, feeling a sense of weightlessness and then of free-fall. I was unable to see, hear, smell, taste, or feel anything beyond that. Suddenly, I felt myself land on solid ground, and the senselessness cleared. I felt Dragon and Dawn land to my right and left; Dawn lost her balance- I reached out an arm to steady her. We were standing atop a platform of obsidian inside what seemed to be a cave. All around us were walls of pale whitish tan End stone.

The lighting was awful. The stone around us seemed to glow very, very faintly, but only in the way that embers on a fire would. The air seemed to be heavy- thick with some unnatural smoke or mist that gave everything a violet hue. I could see, but only just. Judging from the way that Dawn and Dragon were moving, with their arms out and their eyes to their careful feet, they could see even less.

"Torch," I ordered softly. My voice was rough from the air- it felt so toxic to my Overworld lungs. I got the same dizzy sensation that I usually got from breathing too much Void fog. This place must be somewhere in the Void, perhaps. It certainly had that sort of feel.

Dragon fumbled around in his inventory and produced a torch, striking it alight as he pulled it out. I blinked for a moment, letting my eyes re-adjust. Dawn looked at me, then looked around, seeming cautious.

"Are there any Endermen nearby?" she whispered to me. I gave her a blank look before realizing what she meant. My eyes were still glowing ghost-white.

"I don't hear any," I replied, closing my eyes briefly to listen. "I think my eyes turned white because of where we are, not from Endermen. We are in the End, after all." Dawn nodded as if she understood. Dragon turned, torch in hand, and carefully broke a block, opening up a space large enough for a Steve. Through the space, only a patch of purplish-black skies could be seen over the pale stone.

"Shall we?" he prompted, gesturing with his torch to the opening. Dawn and I looked at each other, then, one after another, stepped out into the open.

I had never seen a place more bleak than this. The Nether, with all of its lava rivers and sand pits and mazes of ravines and caves, looked like paradise against this. There was nothing on the horizon but the mottled stone of the End and a lightless sky. Any illumination came from the ground, rather than from above. Something like thunder rolled in the distance, sort of like a cross between zombie growling and the dry, angry sandstorm thunder of the desert.

"Let's go," I offered to my friends, setting off in a randomly picked direction. My friends nodded and followed, the torchlight illuminating our footsteps with its flickering tongues of orange juxtaposed on the alien light from the stone.

We walked for some time over the flat, barren landscape without any interruption. None of us spoke, with all of us feeling the hostile vibe from the terrain. There seemed to be no life around us at all, but we were still on edge. Each of us could sense a wrongness here, although none of us could say why.

Something brushed my conscious mind- a warning. I held up an urgent hand for my friends to stop. We had walked into a patch of rockier, uneven terrain where it was more challenging to see around us. A perfect place for enemies to lay an ambush. Barely breathing, I moved silently around a taller rock and scaled its rough surface, scanning for anything that moved. Something echoed faintly from somewhere else in the rocks. An unearthly voice- no, more than one. Speaking a very familiar melodic tongue.

"Endermen." I told my friends when I slid back down the rock. "Bad timing. There aren't that many, and crossing paths with them won't help us." Dragon nodded, knowing what I would say next.

"We'll change our course." he said.

We traveled for over two days total across the End, with only a few brief glances of Endermen, and at a distance. We passed several sites that seemed to be ruins, houses of a strange design, made of the same stone as the rest of the terrain so they gracefully blended in with it. I looked up at the sweeping curves of the arcs and pathways in wonder. The Endermen were said to once be a great civilization in the _Chronicles. _These tumbling ruins proved it.

At the third set of ruins, this one larger than the others, I spotted something that caused excitement to rise in my chest. I startled my friends from where they were munching on bread with my call.

"You have to see this!" I cried from the ledge above them, cupping my hands around my mouth to aim the sound. They put away their meal and climbed up after me, then looked where I was pointing. There, on the other side of the ruined city, was a high rounded dome of black obsidian. If we were to find clues anywhere, it would be there. At least to start.

We traveled to the dome and began to inspect it. I studied the runes carved around the rim where it met the ground, looking for any of the perversions that Herobrine had shown me, but so far, found none. Then Dawn yelled from the opposite side. I raced around to see what it was.

Dawn had fallen to the ground where the patch of the dome she was leaning on collapsed under her weight. It was part of an old covered-up doorway. I put a hand to the splintered material, and watched it crumble like sand under my grip. My hand came away black.

"How?" I wondered out loud. This dome was most certainly made of obsidian, and obsidian was the hardest material known, aside from bedrock. What had caused it to turn soft and brittle like this? I filed away that little detail in my mind.

Careful of the sharp points of broken obsidian, which could cut like shards of glass, I entered the dome through the decayed frame. The inside, according to Herobrine, should have been bright with the energy produced by a crystal contained inside the dome on a pedestal of bedrock. The dome was here, as was the pedestal, but no crystal. The inside was pitch black.

We traveled on for the remainder of those two days, once nearly tumbling off a cliff, and another few times, nearly coming face-to-face with more Endermen. At last, we came to a deep gorge. There were no ruins here, instead having a clear-cut path leading down through the stony abyss. We traveled quickly, unwilling to stay in a place where we could be spotted and attacked from above. Coming to an intersection in the gorge, I spotted another black obsidian dome. Upon investigation, we found that this one had a whole side blasted off, and again, no crystal could be found.

Disaster struck at the next intersection, where the gorge led off to several smaller trails and tunnels. Dragon had switched the bright flaming torches for the dim, artificial glow of a redstone one, holding it carefully to keep the sparks off of his hands. I didn't realize that we had been trailed until I turned all too late.

Our silent violet-eyed shadow stared back at me as I dumbly looked up at it. Then, as a delayed reaction, I cried out a warning to my friends, whipping out _Firefall. _We brought up our defenses only just in time- the Endermen struck with deadly speed and precision. This was nothing like the battles we were accustomed to in the Overworld. These beings were far more skilled.

Only when I had dispatched my first opponent did I think to look around. Too late.

As soon as I let my guard down, several smaller, more lithe Endermen sprang from the rocks around us and attached themselves to our limbs, wrestling us down. In a dizzying explosion of purple sparks, we were pulled out of the time-space continuum. I was suddenly dropped hard onto the ground.

My friends sprang up with me as they were teleported to my location as well. There were Endermen everywhere. All at once, they began to crowd about and attack.

"Water!" I screamed against the tsunami of Ender cries. After a painfully long moment in my struggle against the black-mottled creatures, I heard the blessed sound of water splashing on the ground. The war cries turned to cries of pain. One by one, the Endermen teleported away. Gasping for breath, I sheathed my sword and turned to face my friends.

"That was too close," I said, chest heaving from both shock and exertion. The Endermen had given us a violent surprise. "You two okay?"

"Yeah," Dawn croaked, struggling to her feet. She had been knocked to the ground in the scuffle, and was clearly hurting. Dragon also answered, leaning on his sword.

I looked around. The ground was higher here, and I could see the gorge in the distance. All around, there were high towers of obsidian, and the ground seemed to glow much, much brighter. My eyes followed the dark lines of the towers, and suddenly, my mouth fell open.

Each tower was topped by an impossibly bright energy crystal.

That was definitely an anomaly. Herobrine had specifically said that the energy from the crystals was volatile and very, very dangerous. I also felt the wrongness was a lot stronger here. We were getting close to whatever it was that we needed to find. The thunder rolled again- I had ceased to notice it before, when we had arrived, but here, it was much louder. And it sounded more like an angry beast than thunder.

I sensed danger. Unwilling to leave the safety of the water, but pressed for time and answers, I carefully stepped from the flow and made my way towards the nearest tower, dripping and shivering. The End had a certain chill to it, and being wet helped nothing. The tower was smoothed and mostly unmarked, but as I ran my hand higher over its dully gleaming surface, I found deep groves. At an Enderman's eye level, there was a sign scored deeply into the rock. The rune.

A rumble passed through the tower and vibrated the ground. I looked up to the top, and saw a beam of dark, false light shoot out of the energy crystal and off into the distance. Dragon yelled a warning to me, pointing in the same direction as the beam. I backed away from the tower, straining my eyes to see what had startled him.

Then I almost fainted. By Notch, what sorcery was this?

A massive black dragon glided over the tower, sucking in the light of the energy crystal like a black hole and enticing more beams from the surrounding towers. It roared- an ear-shattering sound that nearly drove us to our knees. That would be the thunder I had heard. With a few flaps of its wings, it spiraled into the air and dove down at us. We scattered away from it. Dragon, my friend Dragon, unslung his bow and loosed a shot at it. The beast growled at him and went after him, but he agilely leaped from harm's way.

As I ducked behind the tower, it all suddenly fell into place in my mind. The ruins, the sudden change of the Endermen, the blasted out domes, the exposed crystals... It was all because of this dragon! This beast, it had to be behind everything! I thought back to the rune. Its design matched those flaming purple eyes perfectly.

Those flaming purple eyes which were now staring down at me.

The dragon, or rather, the dragon's _head, _leered down at me from _through _the solid obsidian tower. I screamed and ran, tumbling down a slope as I went and losing my footing. I regained it just in time to see the dragon's tail coming towards me, before I was whiplashed in the midsection and hurled into the air, smacking down onto the top of the tower. Dizzy, wheezing, I rolled onto my hands and knees and peered over the edge. Way too far for me to jump.

I painfully took several deep breaths, coughing on the thick air, and shouted to my friends as best as I could.

"Get out of here! We have what we need!" Neither of them heard me. I sucked in as much air as I could and tried again.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" This time, they heard me. Dawn moved out of the way of the swooping dragon and placed down her command block, using a lever to activate the teleportation. She vanished from sight.

Dragon, however, was not so lucky. He was able to put down his block, but as he searched his inventory for an activator, an Enderman crept up behind him, hands poised in deadly claws.

Dragon was struck down from behind before I could act. He met my eyes, and then he, too, vanished in a white cloud.

Something grabbed the back collarpiece of my chestplate, hooking hard claws under the upper edge of the gorget. I was yanked up into the air and tossed backwards, nearly falling off of the edge. The Enderman sneered at me as I regained my balance and reached for my sword.

"_FFoolissh mortalll," _it hissed. My eyes went wide.

Before I could react, it had me again, swinging me bodily around and slamming me against something hard with several sharp points. The object gave for a moment, then suddenly hardened against me and resisted. I struggled to straighten, but found that I was stuck. The heat building up behind my backplate warned me that I was in direct contact with an energy crystal. Gritting my teeth, I struggled harder, knowing my peril.

The Enderman smirked and vanished.

Then the world turned white with agony.

My scream was lost in the deafening roar that enveloped me. I saw a whirr of images and emotions, feeling an immense, foreign hatred under the overture of pain.

I saw the blackness of the void.

I felt a voice in the deep, one in a register so low it barely rumbled in my ears.

I sensed a hatred and anger so deep, it shook my very grip on reality.

I heard the thoughts of a beast as ancient as the gods.

Death.

Destruction.

Chaos.

Darkness.

Void.

The whiteness cleared, and I was suddenly able to hear myself scream. I looked down to see the threads of toxic energy beaming through me from the energy crystal, into the ever-hungry dragon, a beast that originated in the Void itself, and meant to make all of the universe one with the Void. Its hatred of life and of color knew no bounds. Its evil had spread across all of the End, and even had begun to taint the gods. Herobrine, or rather, his madness, was a result of this creature.

I looked up at the beast as it glided towards me, haunted with what I had seen when my mind had linked with its, and sick with fear. For a moment, time seemed to slow, with its eyes only a few yards away from mine. Its violet fires burned into me, tearing through my thoughts.

_YOU WILL BE MINE, MORTAL._

Then it came upon me like a hawk on its prey. I managed to drop my command block to the obsidian just before it struck.

* * *

Darkness.

Those unnatural violet eyes, searing my very soul.

Its words, echoing over and over in my mind.

_YOU WILL BE MINE._

I sat bolt upright with a cry. Tears spilled from my eyes- I angrily dashed them away. Gasping, I slowly pushed back my coverlet and swung my legs over the edge of my bed. I was back at the Temple of Notch, safe in my sleeping room. The events of the past day bounced around in my head, worsening my distress.

I stood up suddenly and banged the wall hard with my fists, forcing myself to calm down. I knew what was wrong now. The dragon had come up from the depths, enslaving the Endermen. Using them as his tools, he also tried to enslave Herobrine, and then use him to unleash chaos on the Overworld. Only Notch himself had been able to foil him. Now he meant to try it again. Exactly how, I didn't know. I didn't see into its mind long enough to find out, and I was pretty sure I didn't want to. That had _hurt. _That had shaken me worse than anything Herobrine had ever done to me.

When I was finally able to settle, I did a few things to make me feel a little better. I had placed the command block in time, so I still had all of my things. I removed my armor, laying it out on the bed, and examined it. Despite the abuse it had just been through, it was hardly any worse for wear. The enchantments had held. Slightly amazed, I put it back on, settling it back into a comfortable position.

I ate a little, hoping my strength would return in proper order. It did, and minutes later, I was feeling back to my old self. Shaken, but brave enough at least to face my friends again. I opened the door and left my room.

But in the corridor, looking at the wall clock and the markings on the frame, I realized something. There were scores on the frame of the clock, where Rose had inscribed, _Days away. _It was an old habit of hers, that when she worried about someone, she would tally the days that they had been gone. I saw that we had been in the End for a total of nine Overworld days, even though our clocks there had only said three. I had until nightfall to report back to Herobrine, or the wager was lost. Checking my armor and sword quickly, I went off to find Dragon.

He was in the same room that I had been in earlier when he accidentally attacked me, and I found him running a hand over the books on the shelves. He looked slightly pale, but he smiled when he looked up at me. I didn't smile when I looked at him, but I did communicate my relief with my eyes. So, he was okay.

"What happened while I was here?" Dragon asked. I closed my eyes briefly, unwilling to bring back up those chilling memories just yet.

"Something awful." I said. "Listen, I know what I need to know now, but I only have one day left to report back in the wager. I have to go." Dragon's smile softened sadly. He gently embraced me in the same way he did last time we were together in this room. I returned the embrace, glad for the comfort this time and ignoring the protesting in my mind. That could wait a day where I could _afford _to be cold and distant. I have to admit, I was starting to like this side of Dragon. We'd known each other for years. Was a little closeness really going to hurt?

"Good luck," Dragon whispered in my ear. I nodded, squeezing his shoulder one last time before reluctantly pulling away. I faced him again before I turned to leave through the door.

"My portal will be on the hillock by the forest, past the village ruins," I said. "I should be back within a day." Dragon nodded, smiling in a way that seemed happier than I had seen him since he had finished Diamond City.

"I'll be waiting," he said. My emotions threatening to start conflicting all over again, I gave Dragon one last nod in farewell and left, striding quickly down the hall. I shifted the obsidian and flint and steel to a position where I could reach them easily.

Time to finish the deal, and then see what the future would hold for us then.


	7. Divided Allegiance

PART SEVEN: DIVIDED ALLEGIANCE

I jogged over the plains just beyond the ruins of the village, giving the sun a baleful look. It was nearly noon already. I was almost out of time. So, panting, I pushed myself a little harder, and crested the hill victoriously and very out of breath. As soon as I was able to straighten, I took out my obsidian.

The design was a very simple one. A Nether portal was four blocks wide, and five tall. With a quick spark from a flint-and-steel, the portal would activate, filling the empty frame with the bright purple whirls that would take you to another dimension. That's exactly what I did, with as much haste as possible.

The wind picked up suddenly, blowing back the hood of my cloak. Annoyed, I put away my flint and steel and reached to flip it back in place again. But before I did, I paused, certain that I had just seen something out of my peripheral vision. A flash of blue, of the same shade that Steve clothes were of. I glanced in the direction I saw it in, but there was nothing there but the trees. Shrugging, I replaced my cowl and stepped into the portal. I had the strangest feeling as I went through, as though I was being watched, but I couldn't put my finger quite on it. Then the whorls filled my vision.

As I stepped into the heat of the Nether, I immediately felt Herobrine's presence seeking me out. It grew stronger until I felt the barest of sensations across my forehead, like an Overworld breeze.

_There you are, _he thought-whispered.

I blinked briefly. Herobrine was suddenly standing before me, in his phantom-corporeal form. The most vague of smiles touched his lips as he regarded me.

"Welcome back," he said. "At the moment of your arrival, I consider the time limitation of the wager fulfilled, as you have arrived within the thirty-day period. Feel free to take your time in coming to the fortress. I will await you there with an escort. We have very much to talk about." Then he vanished, leaving a glowing trail in his wake. I followed the trail, which led onto a Nether brick pathway leading to the entry causeways into the fortress.

An escort was indeed awaiting me at the gate: another squad of iron-clad wither skeletons. However, this time, their swords were sheathed, and they waited patiently for me to mount the stairs before making a formation around me. They led me forward on my command.

Silently, my skeletal escort took me to the great black doors that went to the throne room. There, they turned and left. With a small shrug, I put my hands to the doors and pushed inwards, letting myself into the awe-inspiring hall.

Herobrine was already seated on his throne when I entered, resting his weight on one elbow and his lips against one clenched fist- a habitual pose I was beginning to recognize. He looked up at me and straightened as I strode down the runner rug. I stopped just short of the dais, forcing myself to take an easy stance. Herobrine smiled briefly.

"I am glad you have returned, Huntress. You mustn't doubt the value of this mission you have completed." he said in greeting. I cocked my head at him.

"I'm only here to complete the wager," I replied, "Where would you like me to begin?"

"Well," Herobrine said, sliding one elbow down the armrest and leaning forward, "I would like to know what conclusions you have reached on your own. What did you find in the End that is responsible for all of my troubles?" he asked. I clasped my hands tightly behind my back.

"A dragon," I stated. "A creature that originated in the void and has enslaved the Endermen." Herobrine suddenly froze, narrowing his eyes. His mouth formed a tight line as those glowering white eyes moved from me to some point on the armrest and back to me, icy hard.

"What did this dragon look like?" His voice was indecipherable. I swallowed, sensing Herobrine's distress.

"It was black, and scaled. Wings like a bat, and spikes running down its spine. It was huge- bigger than a ghast. And it had...eyes sort of like an Enderman, but...brighter. Burning. You could feel it when it looked at you, and all of its hatred." I couldn't seem to find the right words to describe it. Herobrine stood suddenly when I finished, eyes somewhere off in the distance. His hands clenched into fists, and slowly, he refocused on me.

"I...remember such eyes," He said, "Eyes as deep as the Void, fiery with malice...long ago..." Herobrine's eyes slid shut momentarily.

"Come with me," he said when his eyes reopened. "I want to know everything, down to the very smallest detail." Intrigued, I followed him to his study, where he sat me down at his table, sweeping aside and stacking all the loose leafs of paper. He put a sheaf of blank pages before him, and picked up a quill, fully loaded with ink. Sensing my cue, I went into my tale, starting with the moment Dragon and I stepped out of the Nether portal, thirty days ago.

* * *

I had only just finished relaying all the events up until my most recent reawakening when Herobrine stopped me. It was over an hour later, and my mouth had grown dry from all my talking.

Herobrine had been making notes as I spoke, writing it down in that strange language that I had seen in the _Book of Herobrine _and _Chronicle III. _Here and there, he had made little sketches, though of what I couldn't tell. Now he sat back in his seat and put his hand to his chin, tapping a long, graceful finger to his lips. I knew that look from my past conversations with him. He was planning something, putting together all the pieces of information he had and deciding how he would proceed from there. His brows came together momentarily, almost as if he had realized something out of place.

My belly loudly growled.

I ducked my head, embarrassed, as Herobrine looked up at me with a bemused expression.

"It would seem that I have neglected a certain necessity as a host." he said, standing from his chair. Stacking up his notes, he put the quill away and went over to the door, opening it for me. I stood up from my seat, stretching my back to relieve some of the stiffness, and went out the door with Herobrine.

I was led down the corridor to the left and through an ornate golden door frame fitted with two iron doors. Herobrine opened them with a wave of his hand, and gestured for me to enter.

The room was a smaller one, but still beautifully built. It was the same style as the throne room, but with a more relaxed atmosphere. The floor and walls were all white quartz, and the windows were purple and black stained glass, but the floor was mostly covered with a rug of purple, and there was a beautiful gold and quartz hearth at the far end. A table dominated the center of the room, with two places already set and with steaming platters of food at the ready. The smell made me slightly dizzy- I realized that I hadn't eaten since I had last respawned.

I sat down in the seat that Herobrine pulled out for me, to his right just off of the head seat at the table. I examined the food on the plate before me as he seated himself: Salmon, cooked well and served on a bed of carrots and potatoes, with melon on the side. A delicacy in the Overworld, as salmon were hard to catch.

Herobrine raised his glass to me in a brief echo of a toast.

"My thanks to you for your courage and determination in bringing me the information that you did. I cannot express to you the importance of what you have done."

I mumbled something along the lines of 'you're welcome' and averted my eyes from his. He was getting me tongue-tied again, only this time, in a completely different, non-hostile way. It had to be those eyes, which would peer at me from through his bangs or over the rim of his glass. Those eyes that had seen the beginning of time and the most unspeakable horrors. I wondered for a moment if he had that sort of effect on everyone at one point or another. He probably did.

Trying to relax, I focused on the food. The salmon was delicious- tender and succulent, filled with flavorful juices, and wonderfully spiced. My appetite took over from there. I had to concentrate not to inhale the nectar and ambrosia before me. Herobrine simply let me eat, smiling warmly at me whenever I paused to glance up. He barely touched his food, taking only a few delicate bites and sipping from his glass. He seemed distracted, but I didn't reflect on this while there was food before me.

At last, I sat back with a contented sigh, setting my silverware down on my plate. Herobrine took it and put it aside with his, clearing space for us on the tabletop. He clasped his hands together atop the linen tablecloth, leaning forward slightly. I sat up a little straighter, knowing we were getting back down to business.

"There are still a few things I would like to ask you, Huntress," Herobrine began. "First, when the Endermen first attacked you in the Overworld, you say the battle went like this: One Enderman teleported into the room where you were gathered with your fellow Steves. Three more were waiting in the hall to fight, and another simply ran when you appeared. Are you certain it went specifically in this order? Particularly the Enderman that fled?" I nodded. Herobrine kept going.

"Second, when you went to the End, you say that you came close enough to Endermen to actually hear and see them, but you had no close encounters then? As if you went unnoticed?" I nodded again.

"Third, when you were attacked in the End, you were not actually cut or stabbed, only wrestled with and bruised. Then you were teleported onto the plain you described, with the towers holding the energy crystals, correct?" I nodded once more, beginning to suspect where this was going.

"And finally," Herobrine said, eyes on mine, "you were deliberately cast onto the energy crystal by the Endermen, that much is clear, and as a consequence, you were telepathically linked to the dragon via the crystal's energy. What were the specific words that he said to you again?" I closed my eyes, trying to put the pieces together for myself. What was Herobrine getting at?

"He said," I said softly, "'You will be mine, mortal'. I'm not entirely sure what he meant by that. I saw a lot of things he intended to do..." Herobrine nodded knowingly.

"Such as the destruction of all the world. To make Minecraft one with the Void." I looked at him questioningly. Herobrine gave me a dismissive gesture.

"I still remember what it meant to do," he said, "if not what it actually was. Not all of my memories will return, and there are many things I needed to know. Now, what is interesting me is why the dragon marked you for his own." His voice lowered and he seemed to muse to himself for the last statement. My eyebrows knitted together in surprise.

"Mark me?" I asked incredulously. Herobrine looked up at me and nodded curtly.

"Indeed. Allow me to explain," he said in a businesslike tone. "First, you were led to find the End portal. You did not discover it by mistake. It was put there for a strategic reason. Second, Endermen can see and hear much more than a Steve. They would have seen and heard you long before you saw or even heard them. I can only assume that they allowed you to think that you were not noticed and tracked you. Third, when you were attacked, you were not attacked to be harmed. Rather, it was to move you in the most effective way possible to the right position: to meet the dragon. Fourth, the bond that was made between you and the dragon with the energy crystal is how the mark is put into place. The moment you leave the Nether, the Endermen will know exactly where you are. For this, you are in grave danger."

I sort of sat there for a moment, shocked. The pieces fell into place in my mind- he was right. But there were still a few pieces missing.

"What about the End portal in the ruins- It couldn't have been put there just to let in the Endermen. There's the Stronghold for that. And...What could the dragon want with a Steve? It was able to use you against your own creation, and you have much more power." There were a few other things that I would have liked to ask, but I needed more time to ponder on them. There were too many loose strings here. Little details that didn't quite match up, like a half-finished jigsaw puzzle with the frame in place, but a few key pieces still not in place, and you couldn't quite figure out where the last ones went.

Herobrine nodded.

"That is true, but there is a deeper plot at work here. I have dealt with tapestries of schemes before, with a thousand threads, and this may be one of them. I must ponder on this." Then he said in a more cheerful tone, "Now, there is the small matter of the wager terms. Since you have done what was asked of you, you have won the wager. What would you have me do in return?" he asked. I sat back for a moment, thinking. We had a nasty situation on our hands with the dragon and all, and the future was very uncertain. At last, I thought of what I wanted.

"I need you to return to the Overworld," I said. "If not now, then soon. Your exile was meant to give you a chance to recover from your insanity, so surely you will be able to come back. I know you will be able to hide yourself from the Endermen. You were never stupid, and now you aren't mad." Herobrine's eyebrows went up.

"How do you know that you are right?" he asked, more bemused than anything else. I smiled back at him in the same way he used.

"You've changed since I last saw you only a month ago. You've gotten over your problems. You've even asked forgiveness from your brother. Marked or not, you should have enough power to cloak your presence, don't you? And you can summon Nether creatures to protect you if need be." Herobrine's smirk widened.

"I like you, Huntress. There is very little you miss."

* * *

"You are sure about this?" Herobrine asked me, the day after our dinner conversation. I nodded. I was sitting in his study again, refreshed by a good night's sleep in a very comfortable guest sleeping chamber that he had at the end of the corridor from the dining room. We had been discussing what to do from here all morning, with me munching on a quick breakfast of fruit right there in the study. I was planning on returning to the Overworld.

Herobrine rested his forehead to his loosely-clenched fist, tapping the table with the fingers of his other hand. He wasn't liking my decision.

"Neither of us know what the plots of the dragon are. You know the dangers of returning." I nodded again. Herobrine straightened with a sigh.

"Don't," he said, when I was about to speak. "I know what you mean to say. There is little else we can do to find out what the dragon means to do, and if anything happens to you, then the other Steves can just call on me." He smiled in an exasperated way. "You really are stubborn. No matter, I cannot keep you here against your will. But be careful. The Endermen are strong enough to overpower even me, when in numbers." I smiled.

"I already know." I said. I smiled wryly. "But that is exactly why I intend to return without delay."

Herobrine sat straight up.

"Huntress!" He cried. "You could not possibly be thinking... There is no telling what they could do to you!" I shook my head.

"I don't mean to be taken as soon as I get back.," I said. "I mean that we need a way to counter-spy on the End. If they're busy chasing me, my friends, and you, will have the opportunity to watch what else they do in the Overworld. If I _am _taken, my movements would be the equivalent of that of the Dragon. We'll be able to figure out what that thing is planning." Herobrine leaned forward on one elbow, examining me with his eyes of infinite depth.

"I have never met a Steve quite like you, Huntress. So brave, and yet so deviously clever." His voice was in a tone I had only heard twice before: When Herobrine spoke with me in the Great Library, and again when he asked me the favor of sending his message to Notch. Saddened, and slightly wistful. I shifted uncomfortably at the compliment.

"If only there were more who grew to be like you." Herobrine sighed, standing up and opening the door.

"It's about time we set off for home."

* * *

We had walked to the portal in silence. Herobrine had that distant look in his eyes, clearly mulling over things in his mind. I looked about as we walked, seeing the Nether with a renewed perspective.

When I first fell into this inhospitable dimension, I thought it to be the very depths of Hell. Now, I saw things with unprejudiced eyes. All around us were massive caverns and cliffs of the reddish netherrack, with pits of dark soul sand at their bases and floors. Chandeliers of glowstone hung from the arcing ceilings so far above, and vast seas of lava bubbled below, fed by magnificent magma falls cascading down the cliffs.

For the first time, I thought it was beautiful.

We reached the active portal safely, and fare-welled with an exchange of nods, but just before I stepped into the purple depths, I turned and looked back.

"Herobrine,"

He turned to face me.

"What is it, Huntress?" he asked. I stepped off of the obsidian.

"Back at the ruins, where you captured me, I overheard some of the things you told the Endermen. What was this.. 'oath' you spoke of? That you would 'finish what you started'?" I had my hands clasped behind my back, and I shifted my weight, unsure if Herobrine would answer.

Instead, he smiled.

"I understand your curiosity. But that is a tale for another time, for when this threat has been dealt with." He saw the disappointment on my face, and seemed to sigh ever so slightly. "I will explain everything when it is time," he said, turning away and starting down the path. I heard the last words he uttered clearly before I entered the portal.

"I promise."

* * *

I stepped back into the Overworld feeling slightly dizzy. I always did, with portal travel. It didn't sit well with my stomach. Checking the time- it was sundown- I set off quickly towards the Temple to tell my friends of what Herobrine and I had concluded. My rapid pace wasn't just out of the knowledge of what happened at night. This time, it was to ensure that no one was on my tail, especially Endermen...

"So she has come back," a cynical baritone voice called from somewhere off to my right, just behind a pile of rubble I had just passed. My blood froze. I stopped in my tracks, turning slowly and putting a hand to the hilt of _Firefall._

It was Wolf.

He stepped out into the open, a diamond sword in hand. His eyes flashed menacingly at me with hatred. I narrowed my eyes at him. What was the meaning of this?

"Is this a 'welcome back'?" I asked, keeping my voice level. Wolf glared back at me.

"You shouldn't have returned," he growled, raising his sword at me. I took a step back, mind whirling. We were supposed to be friends! What could he be thinking? I went over his behavior of the past few days, wondering how long he had been spiraling down like this. Surely he wasn't seeing me as a...

"You _traitor!_" he spat, preparing to charge. "_You should never have come back!_" He flew at me, sword slicing through the air between us. I leaped desperately out of the way, whipping _Firefall _from its sheath. Wolf struck again, a powerful overhead chop, but this time, his blade struck mine and both rang loudly, a few sparks skidding off the powerful collision. I felt my knees buckle slightly under the impact, driven down by Wolf's rage. This wasn't good. I had to get him to stop before it was too late. If Endermen appeared before I could explain what was happening to everyone, we might lose the war before it even started.

Wolf released the pressure suddenly, putting me off balance, and swung horizontally at my neck. I was just barely able to reply with a clumsy parry of my own, reeling fully off balance and falling on the burned remains of a wooden support. It crumbled under my weight. Wolf bore down ruthlessly, stabbing repeatedly at where I lay. I rolled quickly away, wrapping my cloak up with my left hand to avoid tangling in it. Springing to my feet, I attacked with the flat of my sword, landing a ringing blow to the back of Wolf's head.

He seemed barely fazed by the attack, and immediately turned to keep fighting. That was when I knew that he had gone fully into his berserk mode, where he would not stop fighting until he won or was slain. It was extremely difficult to get him to calm down from this state. Gritting my teeth, I fought on, working to keep him from hurting me while trying to wear him down.

With an enraged roar, Wolf suddenly swing his sword wide wildly, narrowly missing my body and slapping my own sword away from him. He launched himself at me, and I was tackled to the ground too quickly to react. Dropping his sword, he put both his hands around my neck in a stranglehold. I was forced to drop _Firefall, _and I desperately bucked and jerked to get free. Wolf growled and tightened his hold, lifting up suddenly to slam my head into the ground. Stars exploded in my vision.

Then the pressure was gone. I rolled over and coughed, spitting up blood-laced phlegm from my crushed windpipe. My vision was still tunneled and starry, but I was able to make out what had pulled Wolf off of me.

Dragon.

I heard several meaty impacts and Wolf grunting after each one. Dragon was using his fists, rather than his sword. He was trying to get Wolf to snap out of it.

"You _IDIOT!_" Dragon roared at Wolf, pummeling away. "_Don't you k__now what she's been doing to save your SORRY BEHIND?!_" I struggled to stand, leaning heavily on a pile of rocks, still coughing and waiting for my vision to clear. I heard a dull ring of swordsteel- Wolf had retrieved his sword and was fighting with it. Dragon had drawn his, and now that I could see his face, had locked his features in concentration.

I could see clearly, but my ears were starting to ring, and my head was throbbing. Undoubtedly a concussion. But one thing did register to my senses, somehow. A vague tingle in my eyes. Uh oh...

"Guys!" I croaked, my voice rough from choking. I was more successful the second try, when a black-skinned creature appeared atop one of the ruined houses behind Dragon and Wolf.

"_GUYS!_" I screamed, reaching the octave that I rarely did. Both of them stopped to look at me, and then towards what I pointed to. Wolf sort of stood and shook his head, blinking. He was finally calming down. Dragon stood stunned for a moment.

Then all Chaos broke loose.

Dozens of the creatures suddenly appeared, encircling us and closing in. I groped for _Firefall, _where it lay fallen on the ground, and just barely fended off the clawing attacks of the Endermen. Wolf was thrown into a rock by one of them, and he knocked his head hard, crumpling to the ground. Dragon bellowed his rage at the creatures, hacking his way towards me.

We both fought desperately, in a sea of enemies. But the tidal wave pulled us farther and farther apart, as more and more Endermen appeared and attacked. As a multitude of hands latched on to me, _Firefall _was once more shaken from my grasp. I was dragged towards a very bright object in the distance, one which I realized had been placed for this very purpose. Knowing we were out of time, I screamed desperately at Dragon.

"Get to the Nether! Get Herobrine! _Get Herobrine!_" Then my air was cut off by a dark clawed hand over my mouth. A spray of violet sparks and darkness filled my eyes, and I suddenly reappeared right next to the End portal. I could hear Dragon calling out my name in the distance, growing more intense as he grew more wildly desperate. Then I was plunged into darkness.

The malevolent laughter of the Ender dragon filled my ears.


End file.
